deuce

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English dewes (“two”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French deus, from Latin duo.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /djuːs/, /d͡ʒuːs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /duːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːs

Noun

deuce (plural deuces)

1. (card games) A card with two pips, one of four in a standard deck of playing cards.
2. (dice games) A side of a die with two spots.
3. (dice games) A cast of dice totalling two.
4. The number two.
   1. (Canada, US, slang) A piece of excrement.
   2. (Canada, slang) A two-year prison sentence.
5. A hand gesture consisting of a raised index and middle fingers, a peace sign.
6. (tennis) A tied game where either player can win by scoring two consecutive points.
7. (baseball) A curveball.
8. A '32 Ford.
   • 1978, Mayall, Joe. "Driving Impression: Reproduction Deuce Hiboy", in Rod Action, p.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.

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them! Particularly: “Geisert”

1. (in the plural) 2-barrel (twin choke) carburetors (in the phrase 3 deuces: an arrangement on a common intake manifold).
2. (restaurants, slang) A table seating two diners.

Synonyms

• (piece of excrement): See Thesaurus:defecation

Derived terms

• drop a deuce
• deuce less

Related terms

• (dice) ace, trey, cater, cinque, sice

Translations

playing card

• Bulgarian: двойка (bg) f (dvojka)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: D (di²)

• Czech: dvojka (cs) f
• Dutch: twee (nl) f
• Finnish: kakkonen (fi), sorsa (fi)
• Icelandic: tvistur m
• Italian: due (it) m
• Japanese: デュース (ja) (dyūsu)
• Malay: dius

• Navajo: aldóós
• Polish: dwójka (pl) f
• Portuguese: dois (pt) (2,4)
• Russian: дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: двојка f

  Latin: dvojka (sh) f

• Slovak: dvojka (sk) f
• Spanish: dos (es)
• Swedish: tvåa (sv) c

side of a dice with two spots

• Bulgarian: двойка (bg) f (dvojka)
• Finnish: kakkonen (fi)
• German: Zwei (de) f
• Italian: due (it) m

• Japanese: デュース (ja) (dyūsu)
• Norwegian: toer (no)
• Polish: dwójka (pl) f, tuz (pl) m
• Russian: дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka)

cast of dice totalling two

• Finnish: kakkonen (fi)
• German: Zwei (de) f
• Polish: dwójka (pl) f

• Russian: дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka)

number two

• Bulgarian: двойка (bg) f (dvojka)
• Finnish: kakkonen (fi)
• French: deux (fr) m
• German: Zwei (de) f
• Italian: due (it) m
• Latin: duo (la) f
• Polish: bobek (pl) m
• Portuguese: dois (pt)

• Romanian: doi (ro) m
• Russian: дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: двојка f

  Latin: dvojka (sh) f

• Slovak: dvojka (sk) f
• Spanish: dos (es)
• Swedish: tvåa (sv) c

tennis: tie, both players able to win by scoring two additional points

• Catalan: iguals (ca) m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平分 (zh) (píngfēn)

• Finnish: tasatilanne
• French: égalité (fr) f
• German: Einstand (de) m
• Italian: parità (it) f

• Japanese: ジュース (ja)
• Polish: równowaga (pl) f
• Portuguese: iguais (pt)
• Russian: ра́вный счёт m (rávnyj sčót)
• Slovak: zhoda f
• Spanish: iguales (es)
• Turkish: beraberlik (tr)

baseball: curveball

• Finnish: kierrepallo (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} двојка f

See also

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
ace	deuce, two	three	four	five	six	seven
eight	nine	ten	jack, knave	queen	king	joker

Etymology 2

Compare Late Latin dusius (“phantom, specter”); Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse (“apparition, ghost”); or from Old French deus (“God”), from Latin deus (compare deity).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /djuːs/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /duːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːs

Noun

deuce (plural deuces)

1. (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.

   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     "Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now - eh?"

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1962, page 65:

     Still bemused by the inexplicable apparition of Podson on that spot, Bradly growled, "How the dooce did you get here?"

Derived terms

• what the deuce

Translations

Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger

• Bulgarian: дявол (bg) m (djavol)
• Esperanto: diablo
• Finnish: piru (fi)
• German: Deibel m, Teufel (de) m
• Polish: diabeł (pl) m anim, licho (pl) n

• Portuguese: diabos (pt), inferno (pt), demônio (pt)
• Russian: дья́вол (ru) m (dʹjávol)
• Swedish: djävel (sv), djävul (sv) c, fan (sv) c

References

• (etymology) “deuce” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• educe