aces

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of ace.

   He was dealt a pair of aces and pushed all his chips into the middle.

   The squadron produced several aces during the war, and their portraits still hang in the base museum.

   Note

   A regular plural made with -s, and it serves every meaning of the noun alike: a pair of aces in a card game, the aces of a fighter squadron, the aces a tennis player serves. The same spelling is also the verb form used after he, she or it, so the sentence around it decides which one you are reading.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of ace.

   My sister aces every job interview she walks into.

   If he aces the seventeenth hole, he takes the lead in the tournament.

   Note

   The present-tense form for a singular subject, whether she, he, it or a name: Maria aces every quiz. With I, you, we or they the bare form ace returns. Its everyday use is colloquial and American, praise for a flawless result such as acing a test or an interview; on the golf course and the tennis court it keeps its sporting meanings, a hole in one and a serve that goes unreturned.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Alternative form of ace, meaning excellent.

   Grandpa said the band was aces and stayed until the very last song.

   Anyone who lends you a truck on a Saturday morning is aces in my book.

   Note

   This adjective of praise only looks plural: one person can be aces. It nearly always comes after a linking verb rather than before a noun, as in you're aces or the show was aces. J. D. Salinger has it in The Catcher in the Rye (1951), "You're aces, Ackley kid," and when it is compared at all, it takes more and most.

4. 4
   interjectioncolloquial

   Used as an exclamation to say that something is excellent.

   "The landlord finally agreed to fix the heater this week." "Aces."

   Aces! That's the last box packed, so we can hit the road.

   Similargreat

Showing meanings only. Show all 4