Ca-nārd', n.

(ka-nār', or ka-nārd'), n. [Fr. canard, a duck.] An extravagant and ridiculous fabrication.

☞ A French writer, in ridicule of the extravagant stories of the day, set afloat an absurd story in regard to the extraordinary voracity of ducks, alleging that twenty having been placed together, one of them was killed and cut into small pieces, feathers and all, and thrown to the other nineteen, who immediately swallowed it. The same thing was repeated with the same result, until at length but one remained, this one having devoured the other nineteen in a very brief time. The story was circulated in nearly all the journals of Europe, and after having been forgotten for several years, was revived with some additions in America. Hence, fabrications of this kind were called canards.