deuce
Pluraldeuces (some meanings)
- 1A tied score in a game from which either player can win by scoring two points in a row.
The game went to deuce four times before she finally broke serve.
At deuce in the deciding set, the volleyball team needed two straight points to close out the match.
UsageUsed without an article: the score is at deuce, the game went to deuce.
Note
Tennis makes deuce a score that has to be broken twice: the next point earns the advantage, and only the point after it wins the game. Lose that second point and the score returns to deuce, as often as it takes.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- After deuce, winning one point gives advantage; winning the following point wins the game. lta.org.uk
- Losing the point after gaining advantage returns the score to deuce, allowing the sequence to repeat. itftennis.com
- 2A playing card bearing two pips, of which a standard deck holds four.
He laid the deuce of spades on the pile and drew again.
Deuces are wild tonight, so hang on to any you are dealt.
UsageTo name a card's suit, use the deuce of plus the suit: the deuce of spades.
Similartwo
Note
Card players kept an old word for two: Middle English dewes, from Old French deus and ultimately Latin duo. It sits with ace and trey, the card table's names for the one and the three. That same two runs through the word's other everyday uses, from dice and tennis to slang for a two-year sentence or a table for two.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Deuce derives from Middle English dewes, through Anglo-Norman and Old French deus, ultimately from Latin duo. en.wiktionary.org
- Ace denotes the playing card bearing one pip. en.wiktionary.org
- Trey denotes a playing card of rank three. en.wiktionary.org
- 3The number two.
The team retired the deuce after his final season, so no player will wear it again.
She made a deuce on the par-three seventh, knocking her tee shot to within a foot of the cup.
Similartwo
- 4A piece of excrement, or what is euphemistically called a number two.
He excused himself to drop a deuce before the long drive.
Some hiker's dog left a deuce right in the middle of the trail.
UsageUsually with drop: drop a deuce. Joking and a bit crude, so keep it among friends.
Note
Slang in the US and Canada builds a pun here: number two is the familiar polite name for a bowel movement, and deuce is the card player's word for two.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The fecal sense plays on deuce meaning number two. en.wiktionary.org
- Number two is a euphemism for a bowel movement. en.wiktionary.org
- Deuce denotes a playing card with two pips. en.wiktionary.org
- 5A hand gesture made with the index and middle fingers raised, also known as a peace sign.
She turned at the door, threw up deuces, and told us she would see us next summer.
The fans in the front row held up deuces when the band walked onstage.
UsageUsually plural, with throw up or hold up: she threw up deuces as she left.
- 6The Devil, invoked in exclamations of bewilderment or anger, as in where the deuce.
Where the deuce did I put my reading glasses?
What the deuce are you doing in my garden at this hour?
UsageUsed like devil after question words: what the deuce, where the deuce.
Note
Dickens has Scrooge feel that a silence would play the very deuce with him, throwing him into disorder.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Dickens describes Scrooge feeling that silence would play the very deuce with him, meaning it would severely disturb him. gutenberg.org
Less common meanings
- 7In dice, the face bearing two spots, or a throw totalling two.
Needing at least a four from his two dice, he threw a deuce and lost the round.
A deuce on the opening roll ended her turn before it had really begun.
Similartwo
Note
With two dice it is the lowest throw possible, since each die must show its single spot. The word also names the side of a single die marked with two spots: one die can land showing a deuce, just as a pair can add up to two.
- 8Something awkward or difficult to deal with.
The movers had a deuce of a time getting the piano up the narrow stairs.
Untangling the old contract turned out to be a deuce of a problem.
UsageMostly in a deuce of a plus a noun: a deuce of a time, a deuce of a mess.
Similardevil
- 9
- 10A coin worth twopence.
Note
Money slang that has fallen out of use: a deuce was an everyday name for twopence, much as the card table's deuce is the two. James Lambie's The Story of Your Life catches it in a demand, 'Down with your deuces', made as chalk-takers collected their fee.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- A deuce was slang for twopence. gutenberg.org
- In card games, a deuce is a two. en.wiktionary.org
- James Lambie wrote The Story of Your Life. en.wiktionary.org
- The book records 'Down with your deuces' as a demand for the chalk-takers' twopence fee. en.wiktionary.org
- 11A Ford automobile of the 1932 model year.
- 12A restaurant table that seats two diners.
- 13Two-barrel carburetors, used in the phrase three deuces for three of them mounted on a shared intake manifold.
- 14A prison sentence of two years.
Practice
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Origins
Latin duo became Old French deus and passed through Anglo-Norman into Middle English as dewes ("two"). The nickname deuce for a 1932 Ford refers to the 2 at the end of its model year.
Of uncertain origin: it has been compared with Late Latin dusius ("phantom, specter") and Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse ("apparition, ghost"), or it may come from Old French deus ("God"), from Latin deus.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The origin of deuce meaning “devil” is uncertain, with alternative explanations proposed. en.wiktionary.org
- Deuce has been compared with Late Latin dusius, meaning “phantom, specter”. en.wiktionary.org
- Deuce has been compared with Scottish Gaelic taibhs and taibhse, meaning “apparition, ghost”. en.wiktionary.org
- An alternative proposed origin is Old French deus, meaning “God”, from Latin deus. en.wiktionary.org