# deuce

Pronunciation: US say "DOOS" /dus/; UK say "DYOOS" /djuːs/

## Noun

1. A tied score in a game from which either player can win by scoring two points in a row.
   - Simple: A tied score in tennis and similar games, when a player needs two points in a row to win.
   - _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._
2. A playing card bearing two pips, of which a standard deck holds four.
   - Simple: A playing card with two symbols on it. A normal deck has four of them.
   - _He laid the deuce of spades on the pile and drew again._
   - _Deuces are wild tonight, so hang on to any you are dealt._
3. The number two.
   - Simple: The number 2, which comes after 1 and before 3.
   - _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._
4. A piece of excrement, or what is euphemistically called a number two. *(slang, Canada, US)*
   - Simple: A piece of poop, sometimes 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._
5. A hand gesture made with the index and middle fingers raised, also known as a peace sign.
   - Simple: A hand sign made by holding up two fingers in a V, also called 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._
6. The Devil, invoked in exclamations of bewilderment or anger, as in where the deuce.
   - Simple: Another name for the Devil, used when someone is confused or angry.
   - _Where the deuce did I put my reading glasses?_
   - _What the deuce are you doing in my garden at this hour?_
7. In dice, the face bearing two spots, or a throw totalling two.
   - Simple: A two on a die, or a roll of the dice that adds up to 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._
8. Something awkward or difficult to deal with.
   - Simple: Something that is hard or awkward 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._
9. In baseball, a curveball: a pitch thrown with spin so that it curves on its way to the plate.
   - Simple: In baseball, a pitch that curves as it moves toward the batter.
   - _With two strikes, the catcher called for the deuce._
   - _His deuce breaks so sharply that hitters give up on it halfway._

## Noun

10. A coin worth twopence. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A coin worth two pennies.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A Ford automobile of the 1932 model year.
- (noun) A restaurant table that seats two diners.
- (noun) Two-barrel carburetors, used in the phrase three deuces for three of them mounted on a shared intake manifold.
- (noun) A prison sentence of two years.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7, 9–10** — 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.
**Meanings 6, 8** — 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/deuce (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).