Mate to duck out of duty initially, and degenerate (5)

I believe the answer is:

drake

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'mate to duck out' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'duty initially and degenerate' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'degenerate' becomes 'rake' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'duty' is 'd'.
'd'+'rake'='DRAKE'

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for drake that I've seen before include "Hoe user" , "sea captain" , "Sir Francis - -" , "Male water-bird" , "Nick" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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