deuce n.1
1. two, a pair, of objects and occas. individuals.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Bowge of Courte line 346: And on the borde he whyrld a payre of bones, ‘Quater treye dews’ he clatered as he wente. | |
| Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? Line 878: With, ‘trey duse ase’ And, ‘ase in the face’. | |
| Belman of London E3: The Names of false Dyce [...] A Bale of bard sincke Dewces, A Bale of Flat sincke Dewces. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Eng. Rogue I 375: He gave me two Trays and an Ace, and reserved for himself two Trays and a Duce. | |
| Proverbs (2nd edn) 348: If size cinque will not, and deuce ace cannot, then quatre trey must. | |
| ‘Tom the Drover’ No. 30 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: At the broads I can palm with the queerest, slip [...] a duce or a tray. | |
| Yokel’s Preceptor 31: Duce, Two. | |
| It Is Never Too Late to Mend 1 251: He showed him a deuce of clubs. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 3/2: In a twinkling Joe’s ‘deuce’ of ‘half-bulls’ were in his ‘duke’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Poker Stories 191: My first three cards were deuce, tray and four of hearts. | |
| Pitcher in Paradise 204: The needy one implored his obdurate chum to shake out at least a deuce of whites. | |
| ‘Carmen’ in Gullible’s Travels 7: If you hadn’t of had a regular epidemic o’ discardin’ deuces and treys Hatch would of treated us to groceries for a week. | |
| Pleasant Jim 271: Pass me the box. Here’s the deuces and aces. | |
| Living Rough 283: A trimmer and a fireman had taken bad, that meant doing deuces. That is, doing double watches. | |
| Really the Blues 216: I’m short a deuce of blips but I’ll straighten you later. | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 249: Two little deucies and three little treys. | |
| Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 4: From off the end comes ‘Fats’ and his buddy, ‘Mule,’ the duece [sic] that is able and from the righteous school. | |
| ‘Weekend’ unpub. thesis in Hewitt (2000) 134: Out we go, motion to a deuce (a pair of girls) and we’re off. Jack’s a really good dancer, slick and snappy, and I’m alright so the girls are well pleased for a dance. | |
| Close Quarters (1987) 23: We passed the silhouettes of tracks and deuce-and-a-halfs. | |
| Way Past Cool 14: You tell me how they ever score the buck for one Uzi, never mind deuce. | |
| Keepers of Truth 78: I started up that big-ass car of mine, convertible Buick Electra deuce and a quarter. |
2. twopence.
| Dict. Canting Crew. | |
| Hell Upon Earth 5: Duce, Two pence. | |
| Memoirs (1714) 12: Duce, Two-pence. | |
| Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 204: Deuce, two pence. Tip me a deuce, i.e., Lend me two pence, or pay so much for me. | |
| New Canting Dict. | |
| , , , | | Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. |
| Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 113: Two Pence Duce Wins. | |
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: duce, two pence. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Vocab. of the Flash Lang. | |
| Key to the Picture of the Fancy going to a Fight 34: ‘[A] bob, a crook, a duce, or even a mag will be acceptable’. | |
| Tom and Jerry II vi: If any body offers you less nor a mag, or a duce, vy, you may say, with the poet, Who vou’d his farthings bear? | |
| ‘A Pullet in Leg Alley Stood’ in Ri-tum Ti-tum Songster 18: A cove [...] offered her a lousy deuce. | |
| Swell’s Night Guide 65: Here are pads from two win, that is a duce, to a tanner per night, and tip before you stall to doss. | |
| Kendal Mercury 3 Apr. 6/2: Mind you keep your ogles on the coves, and let none of them pass without tipping the deuce (giving the twopence). | |
| Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. | |
| (con. 1840s–50s) London Labour and London Poor I 256/2: ‘Give him a deuce’ (2d.). | |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
| Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 3: Deuce - Twopence. | |
| Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 9: Duce ... Twopence. | |
| Marvel 21 Dec. 15: She wanted me for me wolf aloan, an woodent meat me widout I rattled a dooce. | |
 | Seven Years Hard 122: [I]n order to pay for [a drink], one must have at least a ‘doose ‘(twopence), possibly an ‘og’ (a shilling), and sundry ‘fadges’ ‘(farthings). | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 19 June 3/7: ‘Sport’ wants to know if someone can give Juggler Mac a deuce to buy a ‘Sport’ . | |
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 4: Duce (or deuce): Two pence. | |
| Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 175: Twopence is ‘deuce’. | |
| Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 11: This was usually worth a deuce or even threepence. |
3. two cents.
| Vocabulum. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Deuce sheet, a two-cent newspaper (prison). |
4. (UK milit.) as dozie, a two-anna coin.
| Regiment 22 Aug. 318/2: He never, except to a pal, lost a turn of the card, and pocketed scores of ‘“dozies” as the two-anna piece is called. |
5. a useless gambler, a worthless individual [the deuce is the lowest card in the deck].
| Golden Orange (1991) 26: Do you know I enjoy putting deuces in jail? |
6. (Aus., also deucer) a champion shearer capable of shearing 200 sheep in a day.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Nov. 24/4: The fastest jumbuck-barber on aboard…is often known as a ’gun’, or a ‘deuce artist’. | |
| Aus. Speaks. | |
| Bulletin 3 Feb. 44/2: The young picker-upper [...] boasted, ‘I picked for seven “deuce merchants” on my own last year.’. |
7. (US, also deucer, deuce-spot) two dollars; a two-dollar bill.
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 35: He’s crabbing a string of good lays by hyping with a deuce where a saw buck could be changed just as readily. | |
| Gay-cat 302: Deuce-Spot—two dollars. | |
| Wise-crack Dict. 7/2: Deuce – Two dollar bill. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 61: Deuce. – A two-dollar bill, considered as bad luck by the superstitious (two or the deuce being the lowest throw at dicing), whence the name. | |
| More Guys and Dolls (1951) 102: I am feeling so good about my success at the track that I slip him a deucer. | |
| ‘All Horse Players Die Broke’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 710: I slip him a deucer. | |
| Hey, Sucker 96: deuce-note ... two dollars. | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 22: You save a deuce gettin’ ’em both done at once. | |
| Across the Board 80: They were betting deuces, fins, sawbucks and double sawbucks. | |
| I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 142: If you can’t get a sawbuck, take a deuce, baby. | |
| Ringolevio 96: He had hit on his father for the deuce because the sixty dollars in his pocket was a secret. | |
| In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 41: I can’t slip the kid in the parking lot a deuce, it’s got to be a sawbuck. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 92: It’s only a deuce a jump. | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 13: The ten-spot is rhythm. the fiver is hope, the deuce is freedom. | |
| ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Deuce Reader — An "Admission $2" sign. |
8. (prison, also deuce-burger) a two-year sentence; occas. two months (see cites 1947, 1950).
| Prison Days and Nights 23: The same judge that gave them the deuce handed young Sobrowski thirty-five. | |
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 4: Duce (or deuce): Two months hard labour. | |
| in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/3: Slang words for sentences of various lengths include: ‘deuce,’ two months; ‘drag,’ three months; ‘sprat,’ six months; ‘the clock,’ twelve months; ‘spin’ or ‘full hand,’ five years; ‘brick,’ ten years; ‘the lot,’ life imprisonment. | |
| Naked Lunch (1968) 151: Well, this faggot draws a deuce. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 278: Nothing, man, nothing except a deuce, two years. I’ll do that on my head. | |
| ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 202: deuce-burger, n. – a two- year sentence. | |
| Carlito’s Way 46: My man Colorado was doing a deuce. | |
| ‘Six in the Morning’ 🎵 Back on the streets after five and a deuce / Seven years later but still had the juice. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 171: Lamar Hinton, age twenty-six, arrested for strongarm assault, a conviction on an ADW, a deuce at Chino. | |
| You Got Nothing Coming 77: Big Bear was my cellie for a minute in Folsom — me and him did a deuce together behind them bad walls. | |
| ‘A Clean White Sun’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] Two second-tier crackers I’d sent to Union County for a deuce. |
9. in drug uses.
(a) (drugs) two marijuana cigarettes, sold together.
| Tea for a Viper (cited in Spears 1986). |
(b) (US drugs) a $2 package of heroin.
| Scene (1996) 10: I couldn’t get hooked with deuce, could I? | |
| Blueschild Baby 131: ‘Still messing around? I’m doing something.’ ‘What you got?’ ‘Deuces.’ ‘Got some place I can get off?’. | |
| Drug Lang. and Lore. | |
| Homeboy 13: Whip me a deuce, homeboy. | |
| ONDCP Street Terms 7: Deuce — Heroin; $2 worth of drugs. |
(c) (US drugs) two pills.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 169: A single pill was referred to as an ace; two pills, a deuce. |
(d) a $2 vial of crack cocaine.
| et al. A2Z 27/2: deuce n. 1. two-dollar bottle of crack. |
(e) (drugs) see spice n.3
10. (Aus.) two shillings (10p).
| Lucky Palmer 5: You wouldn’t get me deuce on [...] so I’m not going to do anything for you. | |
| in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/3: The underworld has an extensive vocabulary of financial terms. Among those recorded by Detective Doyle are: ‘Deuce,’ ‘swy,’ and ‘peg,’ two shillings. |
11. £2.
| Bang To Rights 153: I [...] stood behind the brasses who were waiting to go in and get find there duce. |
12. (Scot. prison) a two-month prison sentence.
| Cut and Run (1963) 101: Flash and the other bloke, being first offenders, got sixty days. But, in addition to the ‘deuce’ sentence, Flash had come out of it with a bit of a sore face. |
13. (also deucer) a two-hour shift.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Leveller 56: If any of the firemen were sick or injured you were called upon to work a ‘Deucer’ (two hours of his watch each). |
14. (US) a bar or restaurant table seating two.
| If He Hollers 54: I called the best hotel in town [...] and made reservations for a deuce at nine o’clock. | |
| ‘Blueplate Special’ in Lover Man 127: I was working three tables for two—’three deuces’—just by the East entrance to the joint. | |
| Firing Offense 162: We lucked into a window deuce and ordered burgers and coffee. |
15. (US black) an unattractive young woman, i.e. one considered second-rate.
| ‘Ebonics’ 🎵 A deuce is a honey that’s ugly. |
16. (US) a $20 bill.
| No Lights, No Sirens 49: I pulled a deuce out of my pocket as well, dropped it on the bar. |
17. in pl. deuces, goodbye [from two fingers raised in V for Victory sign].
| (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 4: DEUCES — goodbye. From the Peace sign of two fingers in V form. |
In compounds
see sense 7 above.
1. a .22 revolver or pistol.
| L.A. Times 10 Aug. Magazine 12/1: The neighbor handed Michael a .22 caliber pistol — known in Watts as a ‘deuce-deuce’. | |
| Monster (1994) 191: I’m too strong for a deuce-deuce to stop. | |
| ‘High All the Time’ 🎵 Big blunt in his mouth, deuce deuce in his boot. | |
| ‘Suddenly’ 🎵 Ricky had a deuce-deuce, two shotty pumps with a baby 9. |
2. a 22fl.oz beer.
| ‘Fighting’ 🎵 I took two swigs outs my deuce-deuce Old E. | |
| College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Duece-duece (noun) A 22-oz beer. | |
| ‘Millennium Dodo 2’ 🎵 Showed up with a deuce-deuce of swill. |
a .25 pistol.
| Central Sl. 18: deuce-five [...] Dude shot Big Ernie with a deuce five. | |
| Do or Die (1992) 47: Sidewinder’s weapons in the crime were ‘a ’gauge and a deuce-five automatic.’. |
(UK Und.) twopence.
| Canters Dict. Eng. Villainies (9th edn) n.p.: Dows [sic] wins, two pence. | |
| Canting Academy (2nd edn) 172: Deuswins Two pence. | |
| Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Dews-wins, c. two Pence. | |
| New Canting Dict. n.p.: dews-wins or Deux-wins, Two-Pence. | |
| , , , | | Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725]. |
| , , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Dews wins, or deux wins, two pence, (cant). |
| Dict. Sl. and Cant. | |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 105: Deux wins, two pence. | |
| New and Improved Flash Dict. | |
| Paved with Gold 255: I thought he was a ‘queer gill’ (suspicious) at first, and smoked us, from what he palavered to Phil when he gave him his ‘deux-wins’ (twopence). |
In phrases
(US black) to make an excuse.
| ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 22 Feb. 10/5: [I]t never is no use to make a plea or ‘cop a deuce’ [ibid.] 28 June 9/7: She ‘copped a deuce’ but it didn’t seem no use and it looked like her proverbial goose. |
1. (US black/teen) a Buick Electra 225.
| Tampa Bay Times (FL) 7 Dec. 8/3: The Hog is what many Negroes call the Cadillac, the summit of automotive desire for them [...] The Deuce and a Quarter is the top-of-the-line Buick Electra 225, currently an ‘in’ car too. | |
| ‘Shoe-shine on 63rd’, in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 211: Pretty Black was dressed in the same fashion as was Red, drove a ‘Deuce and a quarter’ (Electra 225 Buick). | |
| Central Sl. 18: deuce-and-a-quarter A 225 Buick Electra. | |
| (con. 1970s) King Suckerman (1998) 60: You be lucky to get you a Buick [...] you ain’t nothin but a deuce-and-a-quarter-ridin’ motherfucker. | |
| (con. 1972) What It Was 44: Jefferson pulled up in his ’68 Electra [...] one of the nicest deuce-and-a-quarters on the street. |
2. (US black, also deuce-25) any car with a 225 h.p. engine.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 234: deuce 25, deuce and a quarter […] 2. Any car with a 225-horsepower engine. |
3. (US prison) a sentence of 2 to 25 years.
| Prison Sl. 19: Deuce and a Quarter A 2- to 25-year prison sentence. |
(US black) the eyes.
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 21 Mar. 16: ‘Keep your deuce o’ beams beamin’ and [...] tell her ’bout Joe Q. Hipp’. |
(US black/Harlem) the knees.
| Jackson Sun (TN) 25 Aug. 4/6: When you dig this jive, and is really brought to your deuce of benders, and has mitted many Harlem brights, you’ll be some scribe and hep to any kick of spiel. | |
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 21 Mar. 16: ‘[He] dug them sacks at my deuce o’ knockers’. | |
| ‘Dan Burley’s Clothesline’ 22 Oct. [synd. col.] Old Sister Do Wright [sic] might cop a drop to her deuce of benders when the spirit hits her and pray the Lawd. | |
| Beat Jokes Bop Humor and Cool Cartoons 55: No. I won’t do the cat in; not on his deuce of benders. |
(US black) the ears.
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 11 Apr, 16: You ain’t nowhere, ole man, if you haven’t bent your deuce o’ flappers on that hard load of wax, the groovy Delt Rhythm Boys. |
a period of time: a week or month.
| ‘Manhattan Fable’ [recitation] About a deuce of long black-&-whites ago, a stud from the Natural Lowlands made it to The Apple. |
(US black) one day, i.e. 24 hours.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 15 Feb. 1: The Apple’s twirling, Jack, a deuce of boxcars around the chimer. | |
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive [as 1940]. |
(US) the fists, used for violent assaults; thus play the deuce of clubs, to beat someone up.
| ‘The Language of Delinquent Boys’ in AS XXII:2 Apr. 121: Deuce of clubs. Both fists. | |
| , | | DAS. |
(US black) the hands.
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 17 Oct. 10: No more 13-inch pegs. Mop! No more two-inch cuffs. Two mops! [...] No more slashed pockets to push your deuce of grabbers into. Mop! Mop! Mop! | |
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 48: Each Dead President have I taken that thou has put in my deuce of grabbers. |
(US black/Harlem) two weeks, a fortnight.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 9 Oct. 20: I dug a skull a deuce of haircuts on the backbeat of the trey 30. | |
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
(US black/Harlem) two days ago.
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
(US black/Harlem) a pair of eyes.
| Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 53: Your deuce of peekers wil lamp the sock-frock. |
(US black/Harlem) 20 cents.
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. |
(US black/Harlem) two minutes.
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. | |
| ‘Manhattan Fable’ 🎵 One bright, about a deuce of ticks, he laid his story on a Harlem acquaintance named ‘Congolene Freddie’. |
(US) to back down, to act the coward.
| Duke 40: You ain’t deucing out, are you? | |
| Tomboy (1952) 12: You deuced. Admit it. You deuced. | |
| Teen-Age Mafia 24: Dum Dum had the idea that they’d all like to deuce out, beat feet right out of there. [Ibid.] 33: It was a sort of test, to see if I’d deuce out, turn tail and run. | |
| Drylongso 232: In heaven, when the deal go down it’s the blackest and the baddest ass that makes the others deuce out. |
(US black) a .22 calibre handgun.
| Street Gang Sl. / Gloss. 9 Nov.: double deuce A .22 caliber handgun. |
(UK und.) to take someone’s photograph [? seeing the photograph as a ‘double’].
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 11: Take his deuce; take his photograph. |