Definition of "mallard" [mal•lard]

• A wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) of which the male has a green head and neck. Most domestic ducks descend from the mallard. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When I was a kid (forty years ago) I literally picked up a hen and drake mallard from a drainage ditch in then remote Western Montana."
• "In the hand The drake mallard is the most readily recognized duck, but the hen can be easily confused with the black duck, gadwall, and mottled duck."
• "Being called a mallard should be enough to embarrass any thinking human."