Learn English – the etymology of the phrase “Lovely weather for ducks”

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There's a lovely, odd little song by Lemon Jelly called Nice Weather For Ducks, which references the idiom Lovely Weather for Ducks.

Despite conventional thinking, rain is not lovely weather for ducks, because the rain washes away the oil in their feathers that lets them float.

But accuracy aside, I could not find an origin for this phrase online, and now it has me curious.

Where does phrase originate, and how long has it been around?

Best Answer

Nice (or lovely) weather for ducks:

  • Wet, rainy weather ( humorous) - Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms Di John Ayto

One early usage is from 1860:

  • ... it seems fine weather for ducks. “If we had not had enough of water, we might stop to admire the contrast between STANFIELD'S Oulward Bound, and Coorcn's Bella Venezia—both wonderfully true to nature; so true that, standin before them, ...(Punch or The London Charivari, May 19, 1860)

Ngram: "weather for ducks"

According to The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English:

  • the expression is known in variant forms since 1840.

and from the Dictionary of Proverbs Di George Latimer :

The Old Curiosity Shop by C. Dickens 1840:

  • "*from which appearance he augured that another fine week for the ducks was approaching and that rain would certainly ensue".*
  • The expression appears to have been in use from the first half of the 19th century. Given its humorous usage it may just be derived from a common reference to the common sight of ducks at ease in the rain.
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