Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dekko n.

1. a look, a view.

1856		Allen’s Indian Mail 39/2: The natives of these parts flock round the place where they are staying, with open mouths and straining eyes, to have a dekko at the famous Roos-lok .
1894		Daily News 8 Sept. 6/3: I had a ‘dekho’ round every ‘house’ in the place, but couldn’t see you .
1910		El Paso Herald (TX) 26 Mar. 26/5: Let’s have a decko at your pome.
1917		Falkirk Herald 3 Feb. 3/4: If a soldier wants a glance at anything, he takes a dekko.
1922		W. McG. Eager Contemp. Rev. n.p.: Arter annover li’l bi’ one of ve club yobos came along, ’ad a dekko a’ ‘im an’ said, ‘’Ere, I am’ goin’ to be mixed up in a rough ’ahse, my name’s drippin’!’ so ‘e ’opped it too.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 218: Let’s ’ave a dekko, sir.
1933		M. Marshall Tramp-Royal on the Toby 13: When he has had a dekko at the mess his dog has made of my leg, I’ll be flummoxed if the clodpole doen’t laugh.
1935		Western Mail (Perth) 28 Feb. 3/1: We ’as a decco an’ there was Mr Coochon (that’s French fer pig).
1938		F. Durbridge Send for Paul Temple (1992) 222: ’E ’ad a good decko at us.
1942		S. O’Casey Red Roses for Me Act IV: Come in an’ have a decko at our grand cross.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 45: I was sufficiently restored to [...] take a dekko at the personnel.
1951		A. Buckeridge Jennings Follows a Clue (1967) 66: I woke up last night and had a dekko out of the window.
1951		R.D. Katari in Singh Blueprint to Bluewater (1992) 511: The reply came, ‘Krish, have Ayub on board, bound for Colombo. Thought will have a dekko at my old country. Cordial greetings Syed.’.
1955		P. White Tree of Man (1956) 387: I came to take a dekker at you, Thel.
1959		D. Hewett Bobbin Up (1961) 63: I’ll just take a dekko inside.
1959		F. Norman Fings II i: Have a decko dahn the street and see if there’s any class arrivin’.
1967		K. Tennant Tell Morning This 21: ‘How about you [...] taking a dekko’ [ibid.] 395: ‘Take a decco at that’.
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 157: Like to have a dekko, he said.
1975		D. Davin Breathing Spaces 46: We all had a good dekko back to see what the girls were up to.
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act II: Mibs, have a dekko.
1980		M. Bail Homesickness (1999) 31: Have a dekko!
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 80: Other words recorded for this group are: [...] beako or decko (come and look at this, or stop staring).
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 19: Suppose you want some info on the lingo [...] I wrote you a memo and let you have a dekko.
1991		R. Doyle Van (1998) 517: They climbed up to the top of one of the dunes to have a decco.
1996		R. Rendell Keys to the Street 189: Let me have a dekko.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xii: I simply cannot resist having a constant dekko at that most likely and absorbing of all human tableaux which is the racetrack.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 126: I’m getting a good decko of those full tits in that tight, white t-shirt.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 110: I takes a little decko at him. Still can’t get no reading off’ve him.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 137: Worth having a dekko at, though.
2002		Times of India (New Delhi) 7 Dec. 🌐 And then you have your share of onlookers – ranging from rickshaw-pullers and commuters – halting willy-nilly to have a dekko of the goings-on on the banks down below.
2009		T. Black Gutted 206: I stalled, took a deck at the graveyard.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I take a deck in the mirror and see there’s some bruising.

2. (Ind.) a spectacle.

2002

Times of India (New Delhi) 11 Dec. 🌐 The feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception of the church [...] is a good dekko for tourists who throng the state during the cold winters in the North.

In phrases

keep dekko (v.) (also keep decko)

(US Und.) to keep a lookout.

1933

Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.