Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a general intensified interrog.; a euph. for what the devil...? phr.; also as excl. what the deuce!

1688		J. Crowne City Politicks II i: What a deuce shou’d such a young fellow as I trouble himself with State-affairs for?
1697		Cibber Womans Wit IV i: What a Duce do you let him take her aside so for?
1740		Garrick Lethe Act I: What the deuce are you afraid of?
1758		A. Murphy Upholsterer II iv: Hey! what the duce have we here!
1766		Colman & Garrick Clandestine Marriage III i: What the deuce is all this?
1793		Prince Hoare Prize II i: What the deuce do you mean by this little jacket?
1829		Vidocq Memoirs (trans. W. McGinn) III 81: What the deuce will you do, then?
1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd Ser.) 32: The Commissioners did not know what the deuce to make of the young gentleman.
1853		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 53: He turned to Mr Filcher and asked him, ‘What the doose he meant by not waiting on his master?’.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 109/2: What the deuce is that?
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 312: What the deuce little game were you up to on Saturday?
1885		Kipling Civil and Military Gazette 2 Apr. in Pinney (1987) What the deuce is this ’ere man a saying of sir?
1905		Marvel III:58 17: What the dooce do you want here?
1915		Magnet Library 25 Sept. 2: What the deuce is the matter with him.
1923		‘Sapper’ Jim Maitland (1953) 27: Well, what the deuce did he want to barge me in the back for?
1944		A. Marshall These Are My People (1957) 157: ‘What the deuce do they think they’re doing?’ I murmured.
1958		Southern & Hoffenberg Candy (1970) 111: What the deuce is wrong with you?
1973		M. Walker in Heller In This Corner (1974) 80: I really feel that I won that fight [...] But what the deuce! It’s over.