ace

plural aces

1. card gamesA 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. diceA 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. USslangA 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

   1 more example

   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

   1 more example

   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

6. ball gamesA serve won without the opponent hitting the ball.
7. hobbiesA point won by a single stroke, as in handball, rackets, etc.
8. USball gamesThe best pitcher on the team.
9. USdatedobsoleteball gamesA run.
10. USdisc golfgolfA 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. attributivesometimesAn expert at something; a maverick, genius; a person of supreme talent.

    an ace detective

    2 more examples

    ‘Weston, the ace of theatrical agents.’

    1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 4

    Mexican ace Dos Santos smashed home the third five minutes later after good work from Defoe.

    2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport

    Synonyms: expert, wiz, adept, artist, buff, crackerjack, crack hand, dab

12. A military aircraft pilot who is credited with shooting down many enemy aircraft, typically five or more.
13. USA perfect score on a school exam.
14. Any of various hesperiid butterflies.
15. obsoletenatural sciencesA quark.

present singular third person aces · participle present acing · participle past aced · past aced

1. USinformaltransitiveTo pass (a test, interviews etc.) perfectly.

   Synonyms: ace out, ace out, pass with flying colours

2. USambitransitiveinformalTo defeat (others) in a contest; to outdo (others) in a competition.

   Synonyms: ace out

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

comparative more ace · superlative most ace

1. UKslangExcellent.

   Synonyms: excellent, first-rate, outstanding

comparative more ace · superlative most ace

1. slangAsexual, not experiencing sexual attraction.

   “If you identify as ace [asexual] and you just don’t feel like having sex, then for me, sex-positive means, ‘That’s great! It’s fantastic you don’t want to have sex!’” says McGown.

   2013 March 28, Andrea Garcia-Vargas, “Ourselves, our sex, our choices”, in The Eye

   2 more examples

   "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

plural aces

1. slangA person who is asexual.

   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

   2 more examples

   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

   G. F. said she came up with the idea of creating an asexual group last semester, when she was struggling with the way being an ace was affecting her personal life.

   2014 February 4, Emma Ianni, “New Group to Bring Awareness Of C. U. Asexual Community”, in The Cornell Daily Sun, volume 130, number 81, Cornell University, page 1

plural Aces

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

1. USabbreviationinitialismeducationInitialism of American Council on Education.
2. abbreviationinitialismspace flightInitialism of Advanced Composition Explorer, a NASA spacecraft.
3. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of American Cinema Editors.
4. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Attempto Controlled English.
5. file formatA proprietary data compression archive file format.

plural ACEs

1. countableuncountablebroadcastingA member of American Cinema Editors.
2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablebiochemistryInitialism of angiotensin converting enzyme.
3. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableNATOgovernmentInitialism of air combat element.
4. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablegovernmentInitialism of aviation combat element.
5. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of analysis and control element.
6. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablecomputingInitialism of arbitrary code execution.
7. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablecomputingInitialism of access control entry.
8. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablecomputingInitialism 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. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablehuman sciencesInitialism of adverse childhood experience.
10. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableclimatologyInitialism of accumulated cyclone energy.