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dud

 - 6 dictionary results

dud

  [duhd]
Use dud in a Sentence
–noun
1. a device, person, or enterprise that proves to be a failure.
2. a shell or missile that fails to explode after being fired.
Origin:
1815–25; special use of dud, sing. of duds

Synonyms:
1. fiasco, debacle, fizzle, miscarriage.

duds

  [duhdz]
–plural noun Informal.
1. clothes, esp. a suit of clothes.
2. belongings in general.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME dudde; perh. akin to LG dudel coarse sackcloth
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dud
dud   (dŭd)   
n.  

  1. A bomb, shell, or explosive round that fails to detonate.

  2. Informal One that is disappointingly ineffective or unsuccessful.

  3. duds Informal

    1. Clothing.

    2. Personal belongings.


[Middle English dudde, a cloak.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
dud [dəd]

  1. n.
    a failure; something that fails to perform as intended. (See also duds.) : The whole idea turned out to be a dud.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
duds [dədz]

  1. n.
    clothes. (Always plural.) : Are those new duds?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

dud 
1307, dudde "cloak, mantle," later duds "ragged clothing" (1508), of uncertain origin. Extended c.1825 to "person in ragged clothing," in 1897 to "counterfeit thing," and 1908 to "useless, inefficient person or thing." This led naturally in WWI to "shell which fails to explode," and thence to "expensive failure."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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