Duck for cover

When you “duck for cover,” you prepare yourself to be hit by something unpleasant. To remember this, imagine that someone is throwing something at you (a rock, for example). Your instinct is do lower your head to protect yourself. That’s “ducking” your head. And you would duck your head under a hard surface to protect yourself from the object coming toward you.

It’s most common to use “duck for cover” metaphorically, however. If you think you’ll be criticized heavily, you “duck for cover” by trying to protect yourself from the incoming criticism. That’s how you heard it in today’s lesson. When the prime minister suddenly lost popularity, other members of her party ducked for cover: they tried to protect themselves from expected criticism.