deck

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dek/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dekke, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch dec, decke (“roof, covering, cloak”), from decken (“to cover”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *thakam, the source also of thatch,^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”).^[2] The nautical sense seems to be an English development, since the Dutch word is not recorded with it until about 160 years later.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A covering, apparently some material for covering: 1466 in the OED and Barnhart.^[6][3] Originally it was canvas or similar material used as a covering, especially on a ship.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

By 1513 it meant the platform extending across a ship.^[3][6] A pack of cards is from the 1590s, about 1593 in Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI, perhaps because the cards were stacked like a ship's decks.^[2][3] On deck, ready for duty, is by 1740, and in baseball of the next batter by 1867.^[2] Clear the decks (1852) was to prepare a ship for action.^[2] A deck chair is from 1844, from ocean liners,^[2] the floor of an omnibus or tram from 1869,^[6] and the tape deck from 1949.^[2] The verb, to cover, is from 1513, and to clothe or adorn, as in deck the halls, from 1514, from Dutch dekken.^[3][2] The slang sense “to knock down”, probably from laying someone out on a deck, is from about 1953.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1466 – a covering.^[6][3]
• 1513 – a ship's platform.^[3][6]
• 1514 – verb, to adorn.^[3]
• 1590s – a pack of cards.^[2]
• 1844 – deck chair.^[2]
• 1949 – tape deck.^[2]
• c. 1953 – to knock down.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A floor or platform built across a ship or boat.
2. A similar floor, as of a bus.
3. (chiefly US) A pack of playing cards.
4. An unroofed wooden platform built onto a house.
5. A tape deck or the part of a record player that holds the turntable.

Verb

1. To decorate: decked with flowers.
2. (slang) To knock someone down.

Word family

• bedeck

Related words

• thatch
• deckhand
• deck chair

Usage notes

Deck, a look, in British colloquial speech of Anglo-Indian origin (19th century), is a different word, from Hindi dekh “look!”; compare dekko.^[5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press