Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - ruddy duck

 noun  Date: 1814 an American duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) with a long tail of stiff feathers, a broad bill, and in the breeding male a brownish-red back and sides and a blue bill RUDDY  adjective  (ruddier; -est)  Etymology: Middle English rudi, from Old English rudig, from rudu redness; akin to Old English read red — more at red  Date: before 12th century  1. having a healthy reddish color  2. red, reddish  3. British — used as an intensive bellowed like a ~ bull when she wanted food — Doreen Tovey  • ruddily adverb  • ruddiness noun