DEUCE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does deuce mean? 

• DEUCE (noun)
  The noun DEUCE has 4 senses:

1. a tie in tennis or table tennis that requires winning two successive points to win the game

2. the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number

3. a word used in exclamations of confusion

4. one of the four playing cards in a deck that have two spots

  Familiarity information: DEUCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEUCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tie in tennis or table tennis that requires winning two successive points to win the game

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("deuce" is a kind of...):

tie (equality of score in a contest)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

2; deuce; II; two

Hypernyms ("deuce" is a kind of...):

digit; figure (one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deuce"):

craps; snake eyes (expressions used when when two dice are thrown and both come up showing one spot)

brace; couple; couplet; distich; duad; duet; duo; dyad; pair; span; twain; twosome; yoke (two items of the same kind)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A word used in exclamations of confusion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

deuce; devil; dickens

Context example:

the dickens you say

Hypernyms ("deuce" is a kind of...):

exclaiming; exclamation (an abrupt excited utterance)

Sense 4

Meaning:

One of the four playing cards in a deck that have two spots

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

deuce; two

Hypernyms ("deuce" is a kind of...):

playing card (one of a pack of cards that are used to play card games)

 Context examples 

“What the deuce!” he roared, and then, “I’ll break your neck if you don’t let go.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Had Livesey not been here I should have seen you to the deuce. As it is, I have heard you. I will do as you desire, but I think the worse of you.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

"And what the deuce is that?" Martin asked.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“What the deuce is he knocking at his own door for?” cried the clerk.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He passed, and I went on; a few steps, and I turned: a sliding sound and an exclamation of "What the deuce is to do now?" and a clattering tumble, arrested my attention.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I’ve heard that voice before,” said Holmes, staring down the dimly lit street. “Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have been.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Is he as soft as ever? And where the deuce did you pick him up?”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"By George!" cried our peer, pulling at his moustache in great perplexity, "I say—what the deuce are we to do with these people?"

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What the deuce is she at our table for?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“What the deuce is the meaning of this, sir?” cried my uncle.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)