deuce

English

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English dewes (“two”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] , from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French deus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin duo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /djuːs/, /d͡ʒuːs/
• 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 tie in which one 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: toer (no)
• Polish: dwójka (pl) f
• Russian: дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka)

cast of dice totalling two

• Finnish: kakkonen (fi)
• Polish: dwójka (pl) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ジュース (ja)
• Polish: równowaga (pl) f
• Portuguese: iguais (pt)
• Russian: ра́вный счёт m (rávnyj sčot)
• Slovak: zhoda f
• Spanish: iguales (es)
• Turkish: beraberlik (tr)

baseball: curveball

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} двојка f

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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 (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  dusius (“phantom, specter”); (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse (“apparition, ghost”); or from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French deus (“God”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin deus (compare deity.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /djuːs/
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Notes:

Anagrams

• educe