ducking and covering
Atomic-age drill position
Ducking and covering is a protective response to imminent danger—dropping low and shielding the head and neck.
The phrase evokes Cold War civil defense drills that taught American schoolchildren to hide under desks during nuclear attack, now often referenced with dark humor about the futility of such measures: When the alarms went off, we did what we'd been taught—ducking and covering like it would save us.
- air raid drillsPractice evacuations for bombings
- fallout sheltersProtected spaces from radiation
- bomb shelterFortified underground refuge
- civil defenseGovernment emergency civilian protection
- crouchingBending low, knees bent
emergency preparedness · shielding · bracing · squatting · diving · rolling · nuclear threat · sirens · curling up · atomic bomb · huddling · situational awareness · evacuation plans · survival instincts · Cold War · survival kits · disaster response · schoolchildren
ducking and coveringfleeing
Rapid escape from danger
evacuation · running away · escaping · bugging out · getting out
ducking and coveringfighting back
Opposing when attacked
engaging · counterattacking · charging · attacking · advancing
ducked, ducker, cover, covered, covers, covering, coverlet, uncover, uncovered