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Glite Dictionary
snake eyes

snake eyes

2 7.5
A roll of two ones with two dice that people see as very unlucky
  • noun
  • /sneɪk aɪz/
  • Informal
translation icon : dobles
  • If you haven't heard the news, I hate to be the one who breaks it to you, but once again the Blue Jackets' luck has come up snake eyes.
  • rolled snake eyes
  • came up snake eyes

Examples

  • I rolled snake eyes.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The last roll of the dice and it comes up snake eyes.

    Elimination Game (2014)

  • Everyone else came up snake eyes but us?

    Fury (2014)

  • Those dice got snake eyes, you know.

    Boom Town (1940)

  • What if you rolled snake eyes again?

    Fiction book (1997)

  • First, the orchestrator of the game rolls two dice, and they must come up snake eyes (double ones, a one in thirty-six chance).

    Blog text (29)

  • When I rolled the dice, I was disappointed to see it showed snake eyes.

  • In the game of craps, rolling snake eyes can lead to an unfortunate loss.

  • Everyone groaned when they realized the final outcome was snake eyes.

Surface Forms

snake eyes singular
snake eyes plural

Morphology

snake + eyes

The meaning 'two ones on a pair of dice' cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'snake' and 'eyes'; the expression is conventional gambling jargon with a culturally specific referent. Any tenuous visual association (two small pips like eyes) is obscure and not reliably predictable for a B1 learner who knows the component words.

Etymology

The phrase snake eyes may come from old dice games where a roll of two ones shows two small dots that look like a snake's eyes. Because that roll is the worst possible score in those games, snake eyes came to mean 'unlucky' or the 'lowest result'.