subs. (common).—1. A duck: also QUACKING-CHEAT and QUACKER.—HARMAN (1567); DEKKER (1616); B. E. (c. 1696); GROSE (1785).
1707. J. SHIRLEY, The Triumph of Wit, ‘Rum-Mort’s Praise,’ &c.
| A QUACKING CHEAT, | |
| Or tib-o’-th’-buttry was our meat. |
2. See QUACKSALVER.
Verb. (old booksellers’).—See quot.—BAILEY (1726).
1715. CENTLIVRE, A Gotham Election, i. 1. He has an admirable knack at QUACKING titles…. They tell me, when he gets an old good-for-nothing book, he claps a new title to it, and sells off the whole impression in a week.
IN A QUACK, phr. (Scots’).—In the shortest time possible: cf. CRACK.
