0 someone or something that is very unlikely to be successful, especially because of a mistake or bad judgment: --
It was a dead duck, but only for a time.
So far as most of us are concerned, he is a dead duck anyway.
I am not going to argue that point, because it is a dead duck.
But their leader described the whole issue, 16 months ago, as a dead duck.
Anybody who cared to take the trouble of looking into the matter knew that it was a dead duck.
It was a dead duck when it was taken over.
Although this project is not yet a dead duck, it is a dying duck.
Apart from that, however, this idea of going on with this plane seems to me to be a dead duck before it is even hatched.
