1648 Mercurius Elencticus No. 28. 214 When thou ceasest to uphold his Quacking It is but just his Bounty should be lacking.

1664 J. Evelyn Sylva 34 Quacking is not my trade: I speak only here as a plain Husband-man.

1702 D. Defoe Mock Mourners in Misc. (1703) 46 All other Remedies..Are Tampering and Quacking with the State.

1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady iii. (advt.) 265 The Medicines I have only hinted at, to prevent the Quacking of Patients themselves.

1802 F. Reynolds Folly as it Flies ii. i. 19 This is the age for quacking, and all clever fellows are at it, from the Merry Andrew on his rostrum to the doctor in his chariot.

1879 J. R. Planché Good Woman in Wood ii. i. 249 By quacking half the town is money making—From ‘Life assuring’ down to ‘Undertaking’!

1954 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 8 Jan. 6/4 Truly so much quacking is greedily practiced in the medical profession.

1989 Brit. Med Jrnl. 3 June 1521/1 A lot of ‘quacking’ today emanates from unexpected sources, which include medical journalism and our royal colleges.

1655 T. Vaughan Evphrates 58 We study them onely to attain to a false book-Theorie, whereof no use can be made but Quacking, Disputing, and making a Noise.

1681 R. Knox Hist. Ceylon i. vii. 28 They..continually make a roaring noyse, somewhat like the quacking of a Duck.

1750 Compl. Vindic. Mallard 13 They herde..anon violent Quaakinges of the distressyd Mallarde.

1771 A. Bayly Pract. Treat. Singing & Playing 17 Of gutteral tones there is great variety... Some resemble the croaking of a frog and quacking of a duck.

1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 1 The sage waddling goose, Whose quacking you'll own is the very repeater Of my famous Muse.

1880 M. Mackenzie Man. Dis. Throat & Nose I. 491 The barking of a dog or the quacking of a duck.

1929 S. Lewis Dodsworth xii. 129 Beneath the quacking of motor horns he heard the sullen tumbrils.

1932 J. H. Kinzie Wau-Bun xxiv. 365 The rest soon followed, and with many pleasant quackings, trooped after him, and entered his lodge.

2003 Nat. New Eng. Summer 49/1 The quacking of the wood frog in early spring.

1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome iv. f. 48 Some hatch yong fooles as hennes do egges,..or as the quacking ducke.

1611 T. Middleton & T. Dekker Roaring Girle sig. K4 Drinke ben bause, and eate a fat gruntling cheate, a cackling cheate, and a quacking cheate.

1751 J. Marchant Puerilla 30 Mimick now the Cock, Now the quacking Duck.

1783 T. Holcroft Human Happiness ii. 24 You'd swear..that the hissing, quacking gander Maintain'd, incog, a salamander.

?1819 S. T. Coleridge Poems (2001) II. 968 What tho' the chilly wide-mouth'd quacking Chorus From the rank swamps of murk Review-land croak.

1898 R. Hichens Londoners 82 The quacking voice hurled out these last three words with impressive emphasis.

a1930 D. H. Lawrence Compl. Poems (1993) 126 Over the blue of the duck-pond ply White ducks, a quacking flotilla of cloud.

1983 Metro (Auckland, N.Z.) July 81 Drivers..inclined to make quacking sounds into their RT's.

2001 A. Sayle Dog Catcher 203 The village pub, which our mad quacking landlady had re-named The People's Princess.

1650 T. Venner Baths of Bathe in Via Recta (new ed.) 357 To..reject the counsell of any quacking Physician.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 39 These quacking Sort of Fellows rais'd great gains out of the miserable People.

1843 G. W. Le Fevre Life Trav. Physician II. i. xiv. 31 A more quacking race..does not exist, and they are always swallowing some kind of medicine.

2005 Indian Express (Nexis) 1 Dec. Pardon me for being impertinent—I am, after all, no Lancet savant, just your average quacking mama—but how does a baby, who can't tell between mint drops and medicines, qualify for the placebo effect?