Lord love a duck

Lord love a duck

English

Etymology

Variant of earlier (18th century) Lord love you, God love us, etc. used as exclamation of exasperation or surprise.[1] The significance of the duck is unknown.[2] Attested from the late 19th century.[3]

Interjection

Lord love a duck

1. An exclamation of surprise.
   • 1913 Ian Hay - The Writings of Ian Hay

     "Lord love a duck!" he observed in a dazed voice — "What's this?"

   • 2000 Noreen Wald - Death Never Takes a Holiday

     Gypsy Rose passed me a tuna on rye. "Lord love a duck, I hope she's not Carita Magenta's ghost.

References

1. “love, v.1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008.
2. Michael Quinion (23 July, 2016), “Lord love a duck”, in World Wide Words.
3. Jonathon Green (2023), “lord love...!”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang