ace

Noun (1)

ace (plural aces)

1. A playing card showing a single pip, typically the highest or lowest ranking card in a game.
   • 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
2. A die face marked with a single dot, typically representing the number one.
3. The ball marked with the number 1 in pool and related games.
   • Ace in the corner.1961, The Hustler
4. (US, slang) A dollar bill.
   • […] maybe two or three twenties, a dozen tens, and twenty or thirty fins. The rest is all aces and silver.1990, David F. Friedman, Don DeNevi, A Youth in Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-film King, page 136
   • If they got too many aces (dollar bills) or fives or tens, they turned them in to the vault where they became part of the reserve.1996, Arthur M. Smith, Robert Thomas King, Let's Get Going, page 65
5. A very small quantity or degree; a particle; an atom; a jot.
   • He will not bate an ace of absolute certainty.c. 1658, Dr. Henry More, Government of the Tongue
   • I'LL not wag an ace farther: The whole World ſhall not bribe me to it;1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 45

   Synonyms:

   atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, bit, crumb, glimpse, dab

6. A serve won without the opponent hitting the ball.
7. A point won by a single stroke, as in handball, rackets, etc.
8. (US) The best pitcher on the team.
9. (US, dated, obsolete) A run.
10. (US, disc golf) A hole in one.
    • "Most of the aces weren't on holes I would have liked to have made them on," confessed Colk, who dropped his fifth dodo of 1935 on December 29, which was believed at the time to be a record for most aces in a year.2012, Arv Olson, Backspin: 120 Years of Golf in British Columbia, page 253
11. (attributive, sometimes) An expert at something; a maverick, genius; a person of supreme talent.
    • an ace detective
    • ‘Weston, the ace of theatrical agents.’1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 4

    Synonyms:

    expert, wiz, adept, artist, buff, crackerjack, crack hand, dab, dab hand, dabster

12. A military aircraft pilot who is credited with shooting down many enemy aircraft, typically five or more.

Verb

ace (third-person singular simple present aces, present participle acing, simple past and past participle aced)

1. (US, informal, transitive) To pass (a test, interviews etc.) perfectly.

   Synonyms:

   ace out, pass with flying colours

2. (US, ambitransitive, informal) To defeat (others) in a contest; to outdo (others) in a competition.

   Synonyms:

   ace out

3. (ambitransitive) To win a point against (an opponent) by an ace.
4. To make an ace (hole in one).

Adjective (1)

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

1. (UK, slang) Excellent.

   Synonyms:

   excellent, first-rate, outstanding

Adjective (2)

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

1. (slang) Asexual, not experiencing sexual attraction.
   • "Some people who identify as ace fall under the GLBT umbrella while many others do not. Members of the queer movement have reached out to asexuals to include them in their community. The acronym for this has now become GLBTQA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and asexual)."2009 June 22, Anneli Rufus, “Asexuals at the Pride Parade”, in Psychology Today
   • “I was 14 when I first realized I had no interest in sex,” Jed Strohm, a happily satisfied, romantic asexual from upstate New York, said. “I identified as ace (asexual) and the group leader said I was too attractive.”2010, Amy Ebersole, "Asexuality, not to be confused with celibacy", The Daily Aztec (San Diego State University), 25 January 2010

   Synonyms:

   asexy

Noun (2)

ace (plural aces)

1. (slang) A person who is asexual.
   • Asexuals are programmed differently, like anybody else on the LGBTQXYZ spectrum, but difference is cool! Difference is perhaps the best part of being queer. Own it, aces!2012 July 23, Tasmin Prichard, “Freedom from Desire: Some Notes on Asexuality”, in Salient, Victoria University of Wellington, page 20
   • Negativity toward asexuality can make emerging aces fear that something is wrong with them.2013 April, Leigh Miller, “(A)Sexual Healing”, in Jerk, volume XII, number V, Syracuse University, page 23

Proper noun (1) capitalized: ACE

IPA/eɪs/

ACE

1. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Council on Education.
2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Advanced Composition Explorer, a NASA spacecraft.
3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Cinema Editors.
4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Attempto Controlled English.
5. (file format) A proprietary data compression archive file format.

Noun (3) capitalized: ACE

IPA/eɪs/

ACE (countable and uncountable, plural ACEs)

1. A member of American Cinema Editors
2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of angiotensin converting enzyme.
3. (abbreviation, initialism, NATO) Initialism of air combat element.
4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of aviation combat element.
5. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of analysis and control element.
6. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of arbitrary code execution.
7. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of access control entry.
8. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of ASCII-compatible encoding.
   • Because the DNS requires that a domain name be in an ACE format, IDNA proposes that client applications, such as a web browser, manage the character conversion internally.2003, John Yunker, Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies, New Riders, →ISBN
9. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of adverse childhood experience.
10. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of accumulated cyclone energy.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ace

Ace (plural Aces)

1. A male given name.
2. A common nickname suggesting skill, particularly among airplane pilots.