deuce

English

Etymology 1

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

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.
5. (tennis) A tied game where either player can win by scoring two consecutive points.
6. (baseball) A curveball.
7. A '32 Ford.
   • 1978, Mayall, Joe. "Driving Impression: Reproduction Deuce Hiboy", in Rod Action, p.26
8. (in the plural) 2-barrel (twin choke) carburetors (in the phrase 3 deuces: an arrangement on a common intake manifold).
9. (restaurants, slang) A table seating two diners.
10. (Canada, US, slang) A piece of excrement.

Synonyms

• (piece of shit): See Thesaurus:defecation

Derived terms

• drop a deuce

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)
• 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)
• Polish: dwójka (pl) f

• Russian: дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka)

number two

• Bulgarian: двойка (bg) f (dvojka)
• Finnish: kakkonen (fi)
• French: deux (fr) m
• Italian: due (it) m
• Latin: duo (la) f
• 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

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, jolly 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.

Derived terms

• what the deuce

Translations

Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger

• Bulgarian: дявол (bg) m (djavol)
• 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