odd duck

odd duck

English

Noun

odd duck (plural odd ducks)

1. (idiomatic) An unusual person, especially an individual with an idiosyncratic personality or peculiar behavioral characteristics.
   • 1936 Dec. 11, Bill Lush, "Kelley Reveals Technique of Successful Pass Play," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. 27 (retrieved 28 July 2010):

     This lad Kelley is an odd duck in many ways. . . . Unlike most college youngsters, he has no hobbies.

   • 1971 June 18, "The Job Market: A New Start—Mature Women Who Work," The Dispatch (North Carolina), p. 6 (retrieved 28 July 2010):

     If you are a married woman over 45 and are thinking of taking a plunge into the job market bear in mind that you won't be an odd duck in the employment pool.

   • 2006 Dec. 21, "Sentiment—Not Sentimentality" (film review of Venus), Time (retrieved 28 July 2010):

     Is [Peter] O'Toole—skinny, tottering, eccentric in everything from costume to line-readings—wonderful in this role? Indeed he is. Always more of an odd duck than a leading man, age (he's 74) has given him license to play his essential weirdness.

Synonyms

• strange bird
• See also Thesaurus:outcast

Translations

strange bird — see strange bird