Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Mallard |
MallardNoun1. Wild dabbling duck from which domestic ducks are descended; widely distributed. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "mallard" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1532. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mallard
A drake in flight - Alternative imageScientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Genus: Anas Species: platyrhynchos Binomial name Anas platyrhynchos The Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, is a common and widespread dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe and Asia. It is probably the best-known of all ducks.
This dabbling duck is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters further south. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks.
The breeding male is unmistakeable, with a green head, black rear end and a blue speculum edged with white, obvious in flight or at rest.
The females are light brown, with plumage much like most female dabbling ducks. They can be distinguished from other ducks, by the distinctive speculum.
In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.
It is a bird of most wetlands, including parks and small ponds, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing. It nests on the ground, not always particularly near water.
This is a noisy species. The male has a nasal call, whereas the female has the very familiar "quack" always associated with ducks.
Mallards frequently interbreed with the American Black Duck, Northern Pintail and domesticated species, leading to various hybrids.
A hen mallard with ducklings
A mallard drake
The Mallard was also the name of a famous English steam train; see Mallard (train).
Mallard was also a band featuring former members of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band; see Mallard (band).
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mallard."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mallard was the name of a band featuring ex-members of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band.A mallard is also a type of duck
Mallard is also the name of a famous British steam train.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mallard (band)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mallard is an A4 Pacific class steam locomotive built in the 1930s by the LNER and designed by Sir Nigel Gresley in England. It was designed as an express locomotive with a wind-tunnel tested, aerodynamic body which allowed it reach speeds of over 100 mph. It was in service until 1963 when it was retired after a lifetime distance of almost 1.5 million miles. It was restored to working order in 1988 to celebrate its 50th anniversary, but at time of writing is out of service without a current boiler certificate. Mallard is now part of the collection of the National Railway Museum in York, England.
The Record
Gresley A4 Pacific Mallard is the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at 126 mph (approx 202 km/h). The record was achieved on July 3, 1938 on the slight downwards grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line, and the highest speed was recorded at milepost 90¼, between the towns of Little Blytham and Essendine.
Mallard was the perfect vehicle for such an endeavor; one of a class of streamlined locomotives designed for sustained 100+ mph running, it was one of a small number equipped with a double chimney and double Kylchap blastpipe, which made for improved draughting and better exhaust flow at speed. The A4's three-cylinder design made for better stability at speed, and the large 6'8" (2032 mm) driving wheels meant that the maximum revolutions per minute was within the capabilities of the technology of the day.
Stoke Bank had a descending gradient of between 1:178 and 1:200; Mallard - with six coaches plus a dynamometer car in tow - topped Stoke Summit at 75 mph and began to accelerate downhill. The speeds at the end of each mile from the summit were recorded at 87½, 96½, 104, 107, 111½, 116 and 119 mph; half-mile readings after that gave 120¾, 122½, 123, 124¼ and finally 125 mph. The indicator diagrams on the dynamometer car traced a momentary maximum of 126 mph.
Shortly following the attainment of this record speed, Mallard suffered an overheated inside big end bearing, and had to limp back to Doncaster for repair. Inaccuracies in the machining and setup of the Gresley-Holcroft derived motion (which derived the valve motion of the inside cylinder from those of the other two, avoiding a hard-to-maintain valve gear linkage between the frames) meant that the inside cylinder of the A4 did more work at high speed than the two outside cylinders; this overloading was mostly responsible for the failure.
Controversy
Mallard's world record has never been officially exceeded for a steam locomotive, though German locomotives came very close. Many rumors and stories exist of higher speeds, but Mallard's is the only one with adequate documentation. Certainly many other steam locomotives were capable of such speeds; the LNER's long, straight, slightly downhill raceway of Stoke Bank played as much of a part in the record as the locomotive or crew.
It is notable that, unlike the world records for automobiles, there is no requirement for an average of two runs in both directions, and assistance from gradient or wind has always been acceptable in rail speed records.
Other locomotives that could have exceeded 126 mph include the New York Central's Niagara 4-8-4, the Pennsylvania Railroad's mighty S1 prototype (which is rumored to have exceeded 140 mph in somewhat debatable accounts) and T1, the Santa Fe's 2900 class 4-8-4s, and last but not least, the Milwaukee Road's A1 4-4-2 Atlantics and F7 4-6-4 Baltics. The Milwaukee Road had the fastest scheduled steam-powered passenger trains in the world, with timetables requiring running in excess of 100 mph; it's certainly known that they exceeded 120 mph on a fairly frequent basis.
The belief is that—as far as can be ascertained—fear of lawsuits, and of a reputation for risk-taking through record runs, scared all American railroad companies away from official record attempts in the 1930s and 1940s.
Thus, Mallard still holds the crown; a plaque affixed to each side of the locomotive commemorates the feat.
Mallard was also the name of a band featuring ex-members of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band.
A mallard is also a type of duck
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mallard (train)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mallard is a city located in Palo Alto County, Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 298.Geography
Mallard is located at 42°56'14" North, 94°41'3" West (42.937269, -94.684169)1. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.0 km² (0.4 mi²). 1.0 km² (0.4 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 298 people, 133 households, and 86 families residing in the city. The population density is 302.8/km² (783.6/mi²). There are 143 housing units at an average density of 145.3/km² (376.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 98.66% White, 0.00% African American, 0.00% Native American, 0.00% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.00% from other races, and 1.34% from two or more races. 0.00% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 133 households out of which 26.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.6% are married couples living together, 3.8% have a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% are non-families. 32.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 21.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.24 and the average family size is 2.83. In the city the population is spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 21.1% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 27.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 46 years. For every 100 females there are 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 96.6 males. The median income for a household in the city is $28,056, and the median income for a family is $31,806. Males have a median income of $26,528 versus $11,917 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,451. 12.1% of the population and 12.7% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 19.0% are under the age of 18 and 8.1% are 65 or older.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mallard, Iowa."
Synonym: MallardSynonym: Anas platyrhynchos (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Mallard |
| English words defined with "mallard": Greenhead ♦ River duck ♦ sheldrake ♦ Wild drake, wild duck. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Mallard" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Manx (mallard). |
| Domain | Title |
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Theater & Movies | |
High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Mallard Ducks along the shore of a prairie pothole wetland in northeastern South Dakota. Credit: Don Poggensee. |  | Mallard DuckUCSCUpper Columbia Salmon Clearwater District. Credit: Unknown. |
 | A mallard duck looking into a pond with reflection. Credit: Unknown. |  | Acrylic painting of a pair of Greater Scaups by James Hautman, 2015 Xanthus Lane, Plymouth, Minnesota 55447. Jim's work has been displayed in the Oval Office of the White House, The Smithsonian Institution, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, and in public and private collections throughout the world. In 1990 he became the youngest artist ever to win the Federal Duck Stamp Contest. He won again in 1995 when his mallard painting received the first ever perfect score of 25. In 1998, Jim tied his own record by winning the 1999-2000 Federal Duck Stamp with another perfect score. |
 | Black and white wash and tempera drawing of a Labrador retriever carrying a Mallard by Maynard Reece, the first artist to win the competition three times. Return to the Federal Duck Stamp Office Home Page. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Mallard Duck" by Sreekanth Devarajan Commentary: "Almost Sunset time! <br>Original Image. Presented as is. Higher resolutions are available. Please let me know and I will be glad to send you!." | "Mallard 2" by Erika Thorpe Commentary: "Photographed at the big pond in front of the Botanical Gardens in Balboa Park." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Mallard duck honk. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Mallard" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 69.41% of the time. "Mallard" is used about 85 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 69.41% | 59 | 44,010 |
| Noun (proper) | 30.59% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Total | 100.00% | 85 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "mallard" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Mallard | Last name | 2,000 | 4,821 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Mallard, IA (city, FIPS 48585) |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "mallard"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rosë e egër. (various references) | |
Blackfoot | mi'ksikátsi (mallard duck). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | зеленоглава патица. (various references) | |
Chinese | 鳧 (Anas platyrhyncha). (various references) | |
Czech | divoká kachna (widgeon). (various references) | |
Danish | moseand (mallard duck), vildand, stokand (mallard duck), graaand (mallard duck). (various references) | |
Dutch | wilde eend (wild duck), Gewone Wilde Eend (mallard duck), Blokeend (mallard duck). (various references) | |
Finnish | sorsa (duck, wild duck). (various references) | |
French | col-vert (mallard duck), Colvert (mallard duck), canard sauvage, canard colvert. (various references) | |
German | Stockente (mallard duck). (various references) | |
Greek | πρασσινοκεφαλόπαπια, πρασινοκεφαλόπαπια, αγριόπαπια. (various references) | |
Hungarian | vadkacsa (wild duck). (various references) | |
Italian | mallardo (drake), germano reale (mallard duck), anitra selvatica, anatra selvatica (mallard duck). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 間鴨 (cross between a mallard and domestic duck), 真鴨 (mallard duck), 合鴨 (cross between a mallard and domestic duck). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | まがも (mallard duck), あいがも (cross between a mallard and domestic duck). (various references) | |
Manx | mallard, laagh Voirrey. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | allardmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pato-real. (various references) | |
Romanian | raţã sãlbaticã (fen-duck, Sheldrake). (various references) | |
Russian | кряква (mallard duck, quack, wild duck), дикая утка (widgeon, wild duck). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | divlji patak. (various references) | |
Spanish | pato real, anadón (duckling), ánade real (mallard duck). (various references) | |
Swedish | gräsand, and (duck, wild duck). (various references) | |
Turkish | yeşilbaş, yaban ördeği. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | крижень, дика качка. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Anas platyrhynchos, RM:anda selvadia. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "mallard": mallards. (additional references) | |
| |
"Mallard" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: alard, fayllard, gallard, Hallvard, Maelkar, maillard, malard, Malaud, mallad, Mallarm, Mallart, Malzard, marlar, millardet, mulgara, Mulladry, Mylward, pallard. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "mallard" (pronounced ma"lerd) |
| 3 | -l er d | antlered, bollard, Collard, collared, colored, coloured, discolored, hollered, multicolored, pillared, Pollard, steamrollered, tailored. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-d-l-l-m-r" | |
-2 letters: alarm, damar, drama, llama, malar. | |
-3 letters: alar, alma, dram, lama, lard, maar, mall, marl. | |
-4 letters: aal, ala, all, ama, arm, dal, dam, lad, lam, lar, mad, mar, rad, ram. | |
-5 letters: aa, ad, al, am, ar, la, ma. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-d-l-l-m-r" | |
+1 letter: mallards. | |
+2 letters: armadillo. | |
+3 letters: armadillos, hallmarked, marshalled, mortadella. | |
+4 letters: maladroitly, milliradian, mortadellas, pyramidally. | |
+5 letters: dramatically, milliradians. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Sounds | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Cities 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
