dice
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: dīs
ipa: /daɪs/
rhymes: -aɪs
Forms: form: dice
form: dices
Etymology: From Middle English dys, plural of dy. See the etymology of die (etymology 2) for further information. The voiceless /s/ was most likely retained because the word felt like a collective term rather than a plural form (compare pence), and the spelling dice is a result of the pronunciation.
Senses: examples: text: Or think of a decent young citizen in a toga—perhaps too much dice, you know—coming out here in the train of some prefect, or tax-gatherer, or trader even, to mend his fortunes.
ref: 1899 (please specify the page), Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part:
text: On the other hand, evolution is not a matter of chance, even in the sense in which a game of dice is a game of chance.
ref: 1964, Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky, Heredity and the nature of man:
text: I, at any rate, am convinced that He is not playing at dice.
ref: 1971, Albert Einstein, Max Born, Hedwig Born. Irene Born (tr.), The Born-Einstein Letters, page 91:
text: The problem is that no one can throw a die twice in precisely the same way, and this is why dice is a game of chance and not a skill.
ref: 1990, Ivar Ekeland, Mathematics and the Unexpected, page 67:
glosses: Gaming with one or more dice.
examples: text: 1980, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, “The Winner Takes It All”, Super Trouper, Polar Music
The gods may throw a dice / Their minds as cold as ice
text: A white house set like a dice on a rock already venerable with the scars of wind and water.
ref: 1945, Lawrence Durrell, Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corfu:
text: When we see a dice, we see an object which has six sides, some of which can be seen from where we are, others can be seen if we twist it or move around it.
ref: 2009, Hubert L. Dreyfus, Mark A. Wrathall, A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism, page 106:
qualifier: proscribed by some
glosses: A die.
examples: text: Cut onions, carrots and celery into medium dice.
text: If your worship is inclined to take a small draught of good wine, though not very cool, I have here a calabash full of the best, and some dices of Tronchon cheese
ref: 1782, Tobias George Smollett, The history and adventures of the renowned Don Quixote, 5th edition, volumes 3-4, translation of original by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra:
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
qualifier: formerly countable
glosses: That which has been diced.
Synonyms: astragals
Derived terms: bale of dice
diceboard
dice box
dicebox
dice-box
dice coal
dice divination
dice game
dice girl
diceless
dicelike
dicemaker
diceman
dice mechanic
dice oracle
diceplay
dice roll
dice run
dice shaker
dice snake
dice tower
diceware
dicey
drugstore dice
Efron's dice
electric dice
fuzzy dice
God does not play dice
God does not play dice with the universe
let the dice fall where they may
liar dice
liar's dice
loaded dice
no dice
pass-dice
percentage dice
percentile dice
Poker Dice
precision dice
roll of the dice
roll the dice
throw of the dice