Dry, English child having been rescued by duck (8)
I believe the answer is:
teetotal
'dry' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'english child having been rescued by duck' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'english' could be 'e' (abbreviation) and 'e' is located in the answer.
'child' could be 'tot' (term for a young child) and 'tot' is located in the answer.
'duck' could be 'teal' (teal is a type of duck) and 'teal' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for teetotal that I've seen before include "Avoiding alcohol" , "Completely abstinent" , "Never drinking alcohol" , "Completely dry" , "On the wagon" .)