Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. A generally gray waterproof tape used for many purposes, and possessing nearly mythic status in American culture. It is no longer used for constructing duct-work, as building code require more advanced products. vb. (context transitive English) To use duct tape in order to tape one object to another.
WordNet
n. a wide silvery adhesive tape intended to seal joints in sheet metal duct work but having many other uses; "duct tape holds the world together"
Wikipedia
Duct tape, sometimes called duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. There are a variety of constructions using different backings and adhesives. One variation is black gaffer tape, which is designed to be non-reflective and cleanly removed, unlike standard duct tape. Another variation is heat-resistant foil (not cloth) duct tape useful for sealing heating and cooling ducts, produced because standard duct tape fails quickly when used on heating ducts. Duck tape is generally silvery gray, but also available in other colors and even printed designs.
During World War II, Revolite (then a division of Johnson & Johnson) developed an adhesive tape made from a rubber-based adhesive applied to a durable duck cloth backing. This tape resisted water and was used as sealing tape on some ammunition cases during that period.
Usage examples of "duct tape".
Then they attached a flexible plastic air duct to the hole, taping all the cracks with sticky duct tape.
I went through the usual routine of checking that one bag and letting them know what was in it, and they marked it with the usual fluorescent orange tag, which brought to mind the duct tape again.
I wondered why Denesa Steiner would have blaze orange duct tape and where she might have gotten it.
Antagonize him into going to get a baseball bat, or another roll of duct tape for my mouth.
For Jassie, their anticipated hostess, was hanging by her wrists and from a chandelier in the middle of the room, and she was naked as a baby, but for a strip of duct tape across her mouth.
He latched the accordion door and stretched two strands of duct tape in a giant X across the frame.
As Damien pulled away he heard the familiar rip rip rip of duct tape being sectioned off.
The body was wrapped in a Stars and Stripes - a flag that should have fluttered over the ice of Titan - and bound up with duct tape and Beta cloth.
And who kicked my door in, I thought, since their MO was the same as in the Rogovin home invasion, down to the duct tape on the doorman.
Next, while Weatherhill changed back into his tennis sweater and shorts, she used duct tape to reseal the panel over the forced opening.