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.
- (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, 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.
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This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them! Particularly: “Geisert” |
- (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
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
playing card
side of a dice with two spots
cast of dice totalling two
number two
tennis: tie, both players able to win by scoring two additional points
baseball: curveball
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- 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.
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.
- 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[edit]
Translations[edit]
Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger
References[edit]
- (etymology) “deuce” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/uːs
- Rhymes:English/uːs/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Card games
- en:Dice games
- Canadian English
- American English
- English slang
- en:Tennis
- en:Baseball
- English terms with quotations
- en:Feces
- en:Two