The English We Speak: Duck out

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Language Learning, Education

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This expression means to leave early and quickly. Learn how to use it here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:05.7	Improve your listening with the listening room.
0:09.3	Listen to BBC news reports and answer the questions to test your understanding.
0:14.6	From female guerrilla friendships to Michelin-starred food in space, we know you'll find
0:20.6	something that interests you.
0:22.6	Find the listening room in the skill section of our website now.
0:26.4	BBC learningenglish.com.
0:29.3	Hello and welcome to the English we speak,
0:32.3	where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers
0:36.1	so that you can use them too. I'm Fafie and I'm joined by
0:40.3	Beth. Now I notice you ducked out of George's party early last night, Beth. All okay? Hmm, I did, but I can't tell
0:50.5	you why. It's too embarrassing. Oh, secretive. Now I really want to know. Well, I can talk
0:57.4	about duck out, which is what we're looking at today. If you duck out, you leave quickly and
1:03.4	often quietly without people noticing. So you might duck out of a long meeting or class or a
1:09.6	boring party. You leave early and suddenly.
1:13.1	Well, Georgie's party definitely wasn't boring. No, it wasn't. Actually, the other day,
1:18.0	we had a big family get-together. After the meal, I ducked out and went for a walk to avoid
1:25.5	washing up. Oh dear, you ducked out of the washing up, Faye, eh?
1:29.6	Yes.
1:30.7	Well, let's listen to more examples of duck out.
1:38.1	Do you mind if I duck out of the meeting early?
1:40.6	I've got a doctor's appointment.
	...

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