| 释义 |
▪ I. deuce1|djuːs|
Forms: 5–6 deux, 6 dewse, deuis, 6–7 dewce, deuse, 7 dews, deus, 7–9 duce, 6– deuce.
[a. F. deux, OF. deus two. The -ce regularly represents earlier -s, as in peace, pence, defence, etc.]
1. The two at dice or cards.
a. Dice. That side of the die that is marked with two pips or spots; a throw which turns up this side.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 280 b, Deuce and synke were nat in the olde dyce. 1598Florio, Duini, two dewses at dice. 1605Camden Rem. 148 Two in a garret casting dews at dice. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 81 Or settling it in Trust to Uses, Out of his Pow'r, on Trays and Deuses. 1772Foote Nabob ii. Wks. 1799 II. 301 Tray, ace, or two deuces.
b. Cards. That card of any suit which is marked with two spots.
1680Cotton Gamester in Singer Hist. Cards 343 They..carry about..treys, deuces, aces, &c. in their pockets. 1775Gough in Archæologia (1787) VIII. 154 On the duce of acorns besides the card-maker's arms is [etc.]. 1853Lytton My Novel i. xii, My partner has turned up a deuce—deuce of hearts.
2. Tennis. [= It. a due, F. à deux de jeu.] A term denoting that the two sides have each gained three points (called 40) in a game (or five games in a set), in which case two successive points (or games) must be gained in order to win the game (or set). (See advantage n. 2.) Also attrib. deuce-game (see quot. 1897); deuce-set, a set in which the sides are level, each having won five or more games.
1598Florio, Adua..a dewce, at tennice play. 1816Encycl. Perth. XXII. 221 Instead of calling it 40 at all, it is called deuce. 1878J. Marshall Annals of Tennis 134 Scaino [in 1555] then tells his readers that [the scoring is] ‘at two (a due)’ as it is called when the game is reduced or ‘set’ to two strokes to be gained, in order to win it. The term..a due is still preserved in the French form à deux, corrupted in English into deuce. 1882Daily Tel. 18 July 2 The game ran to 30 all, and then deuce was called twice. 1885Pall Mall G. 12 May 11/1 The concluding game was so close that deuce and advantage were repeatedly called, and the set more than once hung on a single difficult stroke. 1886Cassell's Fam. Mag. Oct. 704/2 It also scores back to deuce points and deuce games. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 621/2 Deuce-game, the game won, which makes the score in games level when each side has won more than five. 1908Westm. Gaz. 16 Nov. 14/1 Losing the first game after a deuce set. 1969New Yorker 14 June 67/1 Games are five-all. It is a so-called deuce set.
†3. Mus. The interval of a second. Obs. rare.
1829R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 237, I also can acknowledge a discord in a deuce and a seventh.
4. slang. Twopence.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, A Duce, two Pence. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 256 Give him a ‘deuce’ and ‘stall him off’.
5. Comb. deuce-ace, two and one (i.e. a throw that turns up deuce with one die and ace with the other); hence, a poor throw, bad luck, mean estate, the lower class (cf. Ger. daus es, s.v. Daus in Grimm); deuce-point, the second point from either end of the board at backgammon.
1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 47 He was a pylgrym of deux aas [Fl. een pellegrym van doys aes]. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. ii. 49 You know how much the groase summe of deus-ace amounts to..Which the base vulgar call three. 1596Gosson in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 254 Deuse-ace fals still to be their chance. 1609Ev. Woman in Hum. iv. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Twere better, by thrice deuce-ace, in a weeke [etc.]. 1658J. Jones Ovid's Ibis 75 Deuce Ace cannot pay scot and lot, and Sice Sink will not pay: Be it known to all, what payments fall must light on Cater Tray [i.e. the middle classes]. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. ii, I threw deuce-ace five times running. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 179 Suppose, that 14 of his Men are placed upon his Adversary's Ace Point, and one Man upon his Adversary's Deuce Point. 1894F. S. Ellis Reynard the Fox 336 That which is likened to deuce ace Hath in esteem the lowest place.
▪ II. deuce2 colloq. or slang.|djuːs|
Also 7 dewce, 7–8 deuse, 7–9 duce, 8 dewse, 9 dial. doose.
[Prob. from LG. in 17th c.: cf. Ger. daus, LG. duus, used in precisely the same way, in the exclamatory der daus! was der daus{ddd}! LG. de duus! wat de duus!
The derivation of German daus is disputed: but there is reason to think that it is the same word as das daus = the deuce1 at dice (where ‘two’ is the lowest and most unlucky throw), the gender being changed when the gambler's exclamation of vexation ‘the deuce!’ was metamorphosed into a personal expletive. A parallel development is known in Danish where the plural n. pokker ‘pocks, pox’, has come to be felt as a singular, and to be taken for ‘the devil’, from its use in imprecations such as Gid pokker havde det! Would that a pox had that!, Pokker staa i det! A pox on that! Hvad pokker er det? What the pox (devil) is that? (See pox.) (On other conjectural identifications see Rev. A. L. Mayhew in Academy 30 Jan. 1892, p. 111.)]
a. Bad luck, plague, mischief; in imprecations and exclamations, as a deuce on him! a deuce of his cane!
b. The personification or spirit of mischief, the devil. Originally, in exclamatory and interjectional phrases; often as a mere expression of impatience or emphasis: as, what the († what a) deuce?, so, who, how, where, when the deuce? (the) deuce take it!, the deuce is in it! Later, in other phrases parallel to those under devil: to play the deuce (with), the deuce and all, the deuce to pay, a deuce of a mess, etc.
In the quotations under a (to which the earliest instances belong), ‘plague’ or ‘mischief’ is evidently the sense: cf. the parallel and earlier ‘A mischief (a pox, or a plague) on him!’ ‘Mischief (or plague) take you!’ ‘What a mischief (pox, plague)!’ This meaning is also possible in those under b1: cf. the parallel ‘What the mischief (or the plague)!’ But mischief was personified already before 1700, and ‘the Mischief’ was in the late 18th c. a frequent euphemism for ‘the devil’; that deuce was already taken in this sense in 1708 is evident from Motteux's use of it as = F. diantre, in b2. In the other quotations in the same group, ‘deuce’ plainly takes the place of ‘devil’ in well-known phrases; but such clearly personified uses as ‘the deuce knows’, ‘to go to the deuce’, appear late.
a.1651Randolph, etc. Hey for Honesty i. i, But a deuce on him, it does not seem so. 1677Otway Cheats of Scapin iii. i, A dewce on't. a1679Ld. Orrery Guzman ii, Who, a duce, are those two fellows? 1708S. Centlivre Busie Body (1732) 41 A Duce of his Cane! 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) II. 66 A-duce take their chat! a1721Prior Poems, Thief & Cordelier, What a duce dost thou ayl? 1796Burns Let. to Cunningham 7 July, The deuce of the matter is this; when an exciseman is off duty, his salary is reduced.
b.11694Congreve Double Dealer i. i, The deuse take me, if there were three good things said. 1726Swift To a Lady, Duce is in you, Mr. Dean. 1757Smollett Reprisal i. viii, What the deuce are you afraid of? 1776S. J. Pratt Pupil of Pleasure II. 34 How the duce came she to marry? 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xii, What the deuce is the matter with the man? 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. iii. (1884) 28 How the deuce did you get by the lodge, Joe?
b.21708Motteux Rabelais v. xix, The Dewse take 'em [F. Mais quoy diantre!]; (they flatter the Devil here, and smoothifie his Name, quoth Panurge). 1762Sterne Tr. Shandy V. xxviii, There has been..the deuce and all to do. 1763Colman Deuce is in Him Prol., If our author don't produce Some character that plays the deuce; If there's no frolick, sense, or whim, Retort! and play the dev'l with him! 1793Cowper Let. Wks. 1837 XV. 250 If the critics still grumble, I shall say the very deuce is in them. 1824Byron Juan xv. lvii, He had that kind of fame Which sometimes plays the deuce with womankind. 1830Lady Granville Lett. 9 Nov. (1894) II. 65 An unpopular one..would have been the deuce to pay. 1840Thackeray Catherine ii, Love is a bodily infirmity..which breaks out the deuce knows how or why. 1848Dickens Dombey ii, The child is..Going to the Deuce. 1851D. G. Mitchell Fresh Gleanings 19 Tearing away at a deuce of a pace. a1860G. P. Morris Poems (ed. 15) 251 Here'll be the deuce to pay! 1861D. Cook P. Foster's D. iii. A gipsy, rollicking, deuce-may-care sort of bird. 1862Thackeray Four Georges iv. 196 To lead him yet farther on the road to the deuce.
c. As an expression of incredulous surprise; also, as an emphatic negative, as in (the) deuce a bit!, etc. (Cf. plague, sorrow, devil, fiend.)
1710–11Swift Lett. (1767) III. 89 We were to dine at Mr. Harley's alone, about some business of importance..but the deuce a bit, the company staid, and more came. 1712― Jrnl. to Stella 22 Mar., The deuce he is! married to that vengence! 1728Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. i. i. 26 Man. He has carried his Election..L. Town. The Duce! what! for—for—. 1774Foote Cozeners ii. Wks. 1799 II. 171 Me? ha, ha, ha! the deuce a bit. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 26 At Florence and Milan, the deuce a Neapolitan could he find. 1805S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. V. 56 The old lady glanced at her..but deuce a bit did she desire her to sit down. 1831Examiner 354/1 ‘Lord Eldon was not one of those’..The deuce he's not! |