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ace of diamonds

ace of diamonds

1 2.5
The ace card with a diamond symbol
  • noun
  • /eɪs əv ˈdaɪməndz/
translation icon : as de diamantes
  • She played her ace of diamonds at just the right moment to win the hand.

Examples

Surface Forms

Morphology

ace + of + diamond

The meaning is directly compositional: 'ace' (a card) combined with 'of' indicating membership in the suit 'diamond' yields the ace card in the diamonds suit. This possessive/partitive construction is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Ace of diamonds comes from playing cards: the word ace meant the single or top card, and diamonds are the red, gem-shaped suit people often linked with money. So the phrase means 'the ace card in the diamonds suit'.