deck
pronunciation
How to pronounce deck in British English:
UK [dek]
How to pronounce deck in American English:
US [dek]
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- Noun:
- any of various floor-like platforms built into a vessel
- street name for a packet of illegal drugs
- a pack of 52 playing cards
- a porch that resembles the deck on a ship
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- Verb:
- be beautiful to look at
- decorate
- knock down with force
Word Origin
- deck
- deck: [15] Ultimately, deck (both the noun and the verb) is the same word as thatch. The meaning element they share is of a ‘covering over the top’. The noun was borrowed from Middle Dutch dec, which meant ‘covering’ in general, and more specifically ‘roof’ and ‘cloak’ (its ultimate source was Germanic *thakjam, source of English thatch).Its modern nautical sense did not develop in English until the early 16th century, and as its antecedents suggest, its original signification was of a covering, perhaps of canvas or tarpaulin, for a boat. Only gradually has the perception of it changed from a roof protecting what is beneath to a floor for those walking above. The word’s application to a pack of cards, which dates from the 16th century, perhaps comes from the notion of the cards in a pile being on top of one another like the successive decks of a ship.The verb deck [16] comes from Middle Dutch dekken ‘cover’.=> detect, thatch, toga
- deck (n.)
- "covering over part of a ship," mid-15c., perhaps a shortening of Middle Low German verdeck (or a related North Sea Germanic word), a nautical word, from ver- "fore" + decken "to cover, put under roof," from Proto-Germanic *thakjan (related to thatch, q.v.). Sense extended early in English from "covering" to "platform of a ship." "Pack of cards" is 1590s, perhaps because they were stacked like decks of a ship. Deck chair (1884) so called because they were used on ocean liners. Tape deck (1949) is in reference to the flat surface of old reel-to-reel tape recorders.
- deck (v.2)
- "knock down," c. 1953, probably from deck (n.) on the notion of laying someone out on the deck. Related: Decked; decking.
- deck (v.1)
- "adorn" (as in deck the halls), early 15c., from Middle Dutch dekken "to cover," from the same Germanic root as deck (n.). Meaning "to cover" is from 1510s in English. Replaced Old English þeccan. Related: Decked; decking.
Example
- 1. The fish flipped on the deck .
- 2. Drop anchor somewhere remote and dive off the deck for a swim .
- 3. On christmas eve , people like to deck the christmas tree with bulbs .
- 4. Guests enter the body of the beagle from a private 2nd story deck .
- 5. The future visualization includes see-through upper deck fuselages , holographic gaming and morphing seats .