deuce
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English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English dewes (“two”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French deus, from Latin duo.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
deuce (plural deuces)
- (card games) A card with two pips, one of four in a standard deck of playing cards.
- 1948 January 1, “Deck of Cards” (track 20), in Famous Country Music Makers[1], performed by Tex Ritter:
- You see, Sir, when I look at the Ace it reminds me that there is but one God. The deuce reminds me that the bible is divided into two parts; the Old and New Testaments. And when I see the trey I think of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
- (dice games) A side of a die with two spots.
- (dice games) A cast of dice totalling two.
- The number two.
- A hand gesture consisting of a raised index and middle fingers, a peace sign.
- (tennis) A tied game where either player can win by scoring two consecutive points.
- (baseball) A curveball.
- A '32 Ford.
- 1978, Joe Mayall, “Driving Impression: Reproduction Deuce Hiboy”, in Rod Action, page 26:
- 2012, Pat Ganahl, Lost Hot Rods II: More Remarkable Stories of How They Were Found, page 62:
- It belonged to “the 1932 guy,” who had four or five Deuces sitting in his yard.
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
- (in the plural) 2-barrel (twin choke) carburetors (in the phrase 3 deuces: an arrangement on a common intake manifold).
- (restaurants, slang) A table seating two diners.
Synonyms[edit]
- (piece of excrement): See Thesaurus:defecation
- (restaurant) two-top
Coordinate terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
playing card
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side of a dice with two spots
cast of dice totalling two
number two
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tennis: tie, both players able to win by scoring two additional points
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baseball: curveball
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also[edit]
Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text) | ||||||
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ace | deuce, two | three | four | five | six | seven |
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eight | nine | ten | jack, knave | queen | king | joker |
Etymology 2[edit]
Compare Late Latin dusius (“phantom, specter”); Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse (“apparition, ghost”); or from Old French deus (“God”), from Latin deus (compare deity).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
deuce (plural deuces)
- (epithet) The Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger.
- 1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, Catherine:
- Love is a bodily infirmity […] which breaks out the deuce knows how or why
- 1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:
- To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- "Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now - eh?"
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:
- Still bemused by the inexplicable apparition of Podson on that spot, Bradly growled, "How the dooce did you get here?"
- Synonym of devil (“something awkward or difficult”)
- We had a deuce of a time getting here.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger
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References[edit]
- (etymology) “deuce”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
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- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/uːs
- Rhymes:English/uːs/1 syllable
- English lemmas
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- en:Card games
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- en:Dice games
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- en:Tennis
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- en:Feces
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