Etymology From Middle English dewes (“two”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French deus, from Latin duo. The word was used by Ford Motor Co. in 1932 to describe a two-seater car model.
Card games, Games A card with two pips, one of four in a standard deck of playing cards.
You see, Sir, when I look at the Ace it reminds me that there is but one God. The deuce reminds me that the bible is divided into two parts; the Old and New Testaments. And when I see the trey I think of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.1948 January 1, “Deck of Cards” (track 20), in Famous Country Music Makers, performed by Tex Ritter:
Bisexual male, 28, doing a deuce in a segregated housing unit due to positive HIV test result, seeks correspondence from both genders.1988 December 25, Eric Peterson, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 24, page 14:
6
A hand gesture consisting of a raised index and middle finger, a peace sign.
And she was blinded by the light/Oh, cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night.1973 January 5, “Blinded by the Light” (track 1), in Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., performed by Bruce Springsteen:
It belonged to “the 1932 guy,” who had four or five Deuces sitting in his yard.2012, Pat Ganahl, Lost Hot Rods II: More Remarkable Stories of How They Were Found, page 62:
10
In plural Two-barrel (twin choke) carburetors (in the phrase three deuces: an arrangement on a common intake manifold).
It was a shame of the chalk-takers to take their fee without even scoring one little mark; but chalk-takers are inexorable and must be paid their twopence. 'Down with your deuces', was the demand after each pair of birds had competed.2010, James Lambie, The Story of Your Life, page 139:
Etymology Compare Late Latin dusius (“phantom, specter”); Scottish Gaelic taibhs, taibhse (“apparition, ghost”); or from Old French deus (“God”), from Latin deus (compare deity).
1
The Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger.
Love is a bodily infirmity […] which breaks out the deuce knows how or why1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, Catherine:
To sit, staring at those fixed glazed eyes, in silence for a moment, would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him.1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:
2 more examples
"Why, Job, you old son of a gun, where the deuce have we got to now - eh?"1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
Still bemused by the inexplicable apparition of Podson on that spot, Bradly growled, "How the dooce did you get here?"1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 65:
2
Synonym of devil (“something awkward or difficult”).