What is "mallard"

Mallard \Mal"lard\, n. [F. malari,fr. m[^a]le male + -art = -ard. See Male, a., and -ard.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) A drake; the male of Anas boschas.

2. (Zo["o]l.) A large wild duck ( Anas boschas) inhabiting both America and Europe. The domestic duck has descended from this species. Called also greenhead.

c.1300, "wild drake or duck," from Old French malart (12c.) or Medieval Latin mallardus, apparently from male, from Latin masculus (see male), in which case the original sense probably was not of a specific species but of any male wild duck, though the specific sense of "male of the wild duck" was not attested in English until early 14c.

n. A common and widespread dabbling duck, ''Anas platyrhynchos'', whose male has a distinctive dark green head.

n. wild dabbling duck from which domestic ducks are descended; widely distributed [syn: Anas platyrhynchos]

The mallard ( or ) or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on wings and belly, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black speculum feathers which commonly also include iridescent blue feathers especially among males. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domesticated ducks.

Mallard was the name of a band featuring ex-members of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band.

In early 1974, after the recording of the uncharacteristically mainstream Unconditionally Guaranteed album, the tensions between Captain Beefheart and bandmembers Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo), Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) and Art Tripp III (Ed Marimba) had finally reached a breaking point, and the three members left Beefheart's Magic Band. Together, they formed Mallard, with Sam Galpin as vocalist and Rabbit Bundrick on keyboards, releasing their eponymous debut album in 1975, with logistical support from Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull fame), who financed the recording using his mobile recording unit on his English estate. The debut included a version of the Captain Beefheart instrumental "Peon", as Harkleroad felt the group could improve on the original. Anderson's involvement with Mallard including recording with the group, but Harkleroad later destroyed these recordings. John French (Drumbo) was originally involved with the band, and co-wrote some songs.

In 1976 they released their second and last album, In a Different Climate, and performed some concerts in the United Kingdom. George Dragotta now had been recruited as their drummer, and after Beefheart fired John Thomas, he, too, joined on keyboards. Thomas was briefly involved in the Magic Band, and in the early 1970s had been in a band called Rattlesnakes and Eggs with John French.

Despite the principal members' years together and unique musical abilities, as well as support from the British musical press, Mallard never achieved commercial success.

In 1994, both LPs by Mallard were re-released on CD by Virgin Records in the UK and in the US.

A mallard is a type of duck.

Mallard may also mean:

Mallard is the eponymous debut by the group Mallard, who formed after tensions between them and Captain Beefheart exploded, causing them to leave his band (though the album's last track is a Beefheart composition). It was reissued as a CD with the band's other album, In a Different Climate, added on.

Mallard got their start with the help of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson: he lent them his mobile studio for their work (he is thanked in the liner notes). Neither album achieved any sort of commercial success.

Mallard is a markup language for the creation of help pages and user documentation for applications (technical documentation). Mallard 1.0 was released on 23 July 2013.

Mallard is an XML language. Similar to DocBook, it defines the logical structure of a document. The documents are then displayed in a help browser, which creates links between the documents. Concepts such as guides and topics provide means for reaching help pages in different ways.

At the moment, GNOME applications such as Web, Eye of GNOME, Evince and others use Mallard for documentation purposes. Mallard is the preferred system for the Gnome Documentation.

Mallard pages can be viewed in Yelp, a GNOME help browser. Further output formats are planned that can be generated via the command line using the tools that are provided via Gitorious:

• HTML
• LaTeX
• Dot

Mallard is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Andrew Mallard, wrongfully convicted of murder in Perth, Western Australia
• Chante Jawan Mallard, African American woman from Texas who was convicted and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment
• Ernest-François Mallard, French mineralogist
• Henri Mallard, Australian photographer of the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge
• John Mallard, Professor of Medical Physics at the University of Aberdeen
• Josh Mallard (born 1980), American football defensive end
• Sax Mallard (1915–1986), American jazz saxophonist
• Garry Mallard OAM (born 1960), Australian social justice advocate, writer and satirist
• Shayne Mallard (born 1964), political figure in the inner Sydney area
• Trevor Mallard (born 1954), New Zealand politician
• Wesly Mallard (born 1978), American football linebacker