(es)  Forms: 3-6 as, 4-6 aas, ais, ase, 6- ace, pl. aces; in 4-5 aas. [a. Fr. as:L. as unity, a unit, (said to be a. Tarentine , for Gr. one). In OFr. popularly restricted to the side of the dice marked with one pip.] 

    1. a. One at dice, or the side of the die marked with one pip or point, and counting as one; afterwards extended to cards, dominos, etc., and meaning the throw of one, or the card, etc. so reckoned. ambs ace, the first connexion in which the word occurs in Eng. (OFr. 12th c. ambes as), both aces; deuce ace (OFr.) two aces, at one throw (now taken as deux + ace = 2 and 1; so trey ace, syce ace, etc.)
 
  c1300 [See under 2.] 1566 UDALL Royster Doyster III. iii. (1847) 45, I wyll he here with them, ere ye can say trey ace. 1611 SHAKES. Cymb. II. iii. 3 Your Lordship is the most patient man in losse, the most coldest that euer turn'd vp Ace. 1650 SHERWOOD, To cast ambes-ace, Faire ambezatz. 1656 HOBBES Lib. Necess. & Chance (1841) 41 This will be yet clearer by considering his own instance of casting ambs-ace, though it partake more of contingency than of freedom. 1680 COTTON Compl. Gamester in Singer Hist. Playing Cards 336 If you put in your dice so that two fives or two fours lie a-top, you have in the bottom turned up two two's, or two treys; so if six and an ace a-top, a six and an ace at bottom. 1880 Boy's Own Bk. 619 The dice are perfect cubes, marked with dots from one to six..one is called ace, two deuce, three tré (or trois), four quatre, five cinque, and six size.
 

    b. At cards.
 
  1533 MORE Debell. Salem & Byzance Wks. 1557, 955/2, I am as sure of this game..as he that hath iii. aces in his hande. c1590 HARRINGTON Marcus at Primero in Singer Hist. Playing Cards 253 For either Faustus prime is with three knaves, Or Marcus never can encounter right, Yet drew two aces. 1594 PLAT Jewell-house III. 42 Carefull schollers will find some of these helpes, as good as the Ace of heartes in their wrighting; heedelesse Drones will scarce make the Ace of Diamondes of the best meanes. 1676 G. ETHEREGE Man of Mode II. i. (1684) 18 She loves nothing So well as a black Ace. 1741 RICHARDSON Pamela (1824) I. 187 By the ace [in whist] I have always thought the laws of the land denoted; and as the ace is above the king or queen, and wins them, I think the law should be thought so too. 1853 LYTTON My Novel I. xii. 47 The unfortunate adversary has led up to ace king knavewith two other trumps. Squire takes the Parson's ten with his knave, and plays out ace king.
 

    c. In lawn tennis, badminton, etc.: an unreturnable stroke, esp. a service that the opponent fails to touch; a point thus scored.
 
  1889 W. M. BROWNLEE Lawn-Tennis vi. 158 He was equal to scoring two aces against the fair wind. 1933 Times 18 Nov. 5/7 Six of his nine aces were given to him by his opponent failing to bring off his drop shots. 1955 Times 28 June 2/7 Against this the luckless Drobny simply could not conjure up the old magic of first service aces.
 

    d. A point scored at racquets, badminton, etc.
 
  1819 Examiner 7 Feb. in Hazlitt Table-Talk (1967) 88 In the three first games, which of course decided the match, Peru got only one ace. 1845 in Appleton's Ann. Cycl. (1886) 77/2 The game [sc. baseball] to consist of twenty-one counts or aces. 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 228/2 His adversary scores one point towards game, called an ace. 1947 R. SMITH Baseball 40 A turn at bat was a ‘hand’ and a run was an ‘ace’. 1974 MILLS & BUTLER Tackle Badminton ii. 26 A game consists of 15 points (or aces), except in ladies' singles.
 

    e. U.S. slang. A dollar; a one-dollar bill.
 
  [1921 P. & T. CASEY Gay-Cat ix. 92 He fumbled..in his trousers pocket. ‘It's not muchonly an ace spot.’.. It was a dollar bill.] 1925 H. LEVERAGE in Flynn's 3 Jan. 690/1 Ace, a dollar. 1931 Amer. Mercury Nov. 351/1 Ace, a dollar. 1941 J. SMILEY Hash House Lingo 8 Ace, one dollar. 1955 D. W. MAURER in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. XXIV. 116 He comes up with a bundle of scratch as big as your fist, but it's a mishall aces.
 

    2. fig.    a. As the ace at dice was the lowest or worst number, ace was frequently used for bad luck, misfortune, loss. Esp. in ambs ace and deuce ace the lowest possible throw, and hence, naught, worthlessness, nothing.    b. But in some games at cards, the ace is the most valuable, and hence the ‘ace of men’ the perfection or highest. See also AMBS-ACE.
 
  c1300 Harrowing of Hell 21 Stille be thou, Sathanas! The ys fallen ambes aas. c1386 CHAUCER Monk's T. 583 (Six-t. 670) Empoysoned of thin oughne folk thou were; Thyn sis fortune is torned into an aas. [Lansd. as.] c1386 Man of Law's T. 26 Youre bagges beth nat fuld with ambes aas, But with sys synk, that renneth on your chaunce. [v.r. as, ais.] 1481 CAXTON Reynard the Foxe 62 A pylgrym of deux aas. 1787 BURNS (Chamb.) 74 My heart-warm love to guid auld Glen, The ace and wale o'honest men.
 

    c. [After F. as.] In the war of 1914-18, an airman who had brought down ten enemy machines; a crack airman.
 
  1917 Times (weekly ed.) 14 Sept. 757 Second Lieutenant Lufbery, the ‘ace’ of the American Lafayette flying Squadron. 1918 E. SIDGWICK Jamesie III. 170 Gabriel is what they call an ‘ace’ here, a great adventurer of the air. 1921 Punch 12 Jan. 26/1 Airman, playwright, Empire-builder,..Ace of all the furious aces, slightly bald D'Annunzio! 1940 War Illustr. 12 Apr. 366 To be officially recognized as an air ‘Ace’ a pilot must have ten definitely established victories to his credit.
 

    d. Chiefly U.S. A person outstanding in any activity or occupation; also attrib. Also (U.S. slang), in pl., anything or anyone outstandingly good.
 
  1919 WODEHOUSE Damsel in Distress ii. 35 Put it in your diary, Mac, and write it on your cuff, George Bevan's all right. He's an ace. 1931 G. IRWIN Amer. Tramp & Underw. Slang 17 Aces, anything or anyone considered to be the best or most desirable. 1932 WODEHOUSE Hot Water vi. 113 You're aces, boy. 1935 R. S. WOODWORTH Psychol. (ed. 10) x. 245 Any occupation in which master workmen, virtuosos, and ‘aces’ occur. 1936 New Yorker 15 Feb. 12/2 We found ourselves..talking with an ace pulp writer. 1937 Daily Express 20 Apr. 23/2 London's ace players [in an orchestra]improvising hot numbers. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 72/1 That broad (female) is aces with me. 1961 Guardian 30 Sept. 12/6 The ace byliners found their stories on the back page.
 

    e. on one's ace, on one's own. Austral. and N.Z. slang. Now rare.
 
  1904 Truth (Sydney) 2 Oct. 3/1 As a burglar bold, Kelly works strictly on his ace, believing that comradeship in crime is dangerous. 1908 E. G. MURPHY Jarrahland Jingles 58 Brim's in London on his ‘ace’. c1926 ‘MIXER’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 66 When men are picked around me, And I'm left upon my ace. 1934 A. RUSSELL Tramp-Royal in Wild Austral. 213 Send 'em out ‘on their ace’ and they'll probably ‘go camp’ under the first shady tree they come to.
 

    f. Phr. ace in the hole, an advantage so far concealed; a card up one's sleeve, a trump card. slang (chiefly N. Amer.).
 
  1915 G. BRONSON-HOWARD God's Man VI. iii. 371 Ever hear of a gambler's ace in his sleeve‘ace in the hole’, they call it. 1922 Collier's 23 Sept. 24/1, I got a millionaire for an ace in the hole. 1933 F. WILLOUGHBY Alaskans All 129 If she [sc. the Arctic] doesn't get you with trick currents and shifting ice, she tries smothering you with blizzards, or starving you. If these fail, her ace in the hole is the cold. 1952 ‘E. BOX’ Death in Fifth Position (1954) i. 3 We've had a bad season so far... Wilbur is our ace-in-the-hole. 1974 Jrnl. Politics XXXVI. 93 Reprogramming had been used as an ‘ace in the hole’ to resolve situations ‘that have been allowed to deteriorate to the point of emergency’. 1984 N.Y. Times 6 May III. 6/1 In the long haul,..AM's ace in the hole may be the $213 million net operating loss carryforward it still has left from its 1981-82 losses.
 

    3. fig. A single point, a minute portion, a jot, particle, or atom.
 
  1528 MORE Heresyes I. Wks. 1557, 170/2, I will not muche sticke with you for one ace better. 1579 TOMSON Calvin's Serm. on Tim. 13/2 Such as did their best to be an ace above Timothie. 1586 J. HOOKER Giraldus's Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 95/1 [He] determined to go an ase beyond his fellows, in betraieng the castell to the gouernor. 1587 GASCOIGNE Steele Glass Epil. 42 Better looke off than looke an ace too farre. 1598 tr. Terence, Eun. III. i. Did I tell thee how I tooke a young man down an ace lower at Rhodes? 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. Democr. (1651) 9, I may peradventure be an ace before thee. 1652 CULPEPPER Engl. Phys. Enl. (1809) 165 The root spreadeth like the other, neither will it yield to its fellow one ace of bitterness. 1737 Dragon of Wantley in Aquar. Naturalist (1858) 355 The Corporation worshipful He valued not an ace.
 

    b. to bate an ace: To abate a jot or tittle, to make the slightest abatement.
 
  a1600 Proverb in Camden Rem. (1623) 293 Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton. 1616 Englishmen for my Money II. ii. in Hazl. Dodsl. X. 504 Yet a man may want of his will, and bate an ace of his wish. a1638 MEDE Paraphr. on 2 Peter iii. 9 God would not bate them an ace of the judgment they had merited. 1676 MARVELL Mr. Smirke Wks. 1875 IV. 60 The exposer has not bated him an ace. a1733 NORTH Lives of Norths (1826) III. 323 Bating him that ace, he was truly a great man.
 

    c. within an ace of: On the very point of, within a hair's breadth of.
 
  a1704 T. BROWN Lett. Wks. 1730 I. 184, I was within an ace of being talked to death. 1711 POPE Lett. (1736) V. 112, I was within an ace of meeting you. 1824 W. IRVING Tales of Trav. II. 43, I came within an ace of making my fortune. 1880 Manch. Guardian Oct. 30, A conspiracy to restore the Throne, was within an ace of being carried into execution.
 

    4. attrib. ace-high a. N Amer. colloq., valued or esteemed highly (orig. in Poker, used of a hand in which the highest card is an ace); ace-point: the first of the points or divisions of the tables in backgammon.
 
  [1878 F. H. HART Sazerac Lying Club 154 A discussion on the Russo-Turkish war relieved the tedium of ‘ace-high’ and single pairs.] 1901 S. E. WHITE Westerners xxii. 224 Your bull [terrier] wouldn't be ace high. 1906 ‘O. HENRY’ Four Million (1916) 123 From the very first dose he was ace high and everybody else looked like thirty cents to her. 1948 Time 12 Jan. 34/3 In one field, at least, the Russians were still ace-high with Americans last week. 1880 Boy's Own Bk., Backg. 619 The men move towards their ace-points..white counts round from the ace-point of black, and black counts round from the ace-point of white.
 

    ¶ace is in many dialects pronounced yace, yas, yess, whence in the following: O ace, a curious spelling of OYEZ! or O yes! with plural O's ace for Oyezes.
 
  1635 R. BRATHWAIT Arcadian Princesse ii. 196 Having first commanded Cletor, the Pretorian Cryer, with three O's ace to command silence.