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deck of cards

deck of cards

15 1.4
A complete set of 52 playing cards used in games like poker and bridge
  • noun
  • /dɛk əv kɑrdz/
translation icon : baraja
  • She shuffled the deck of cards before dealing them to the players.

A brand new untouched deck of cards.

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Examples

Synonyms

deck
vsdeck of cards
84 1.0

A set of 52 cards used for playing games

is the same meaning but is the fuller multiword phrase
pack of cards
vsdeck of cards
1 1.6

A set of 52 cards used for playing games

is the same meaning but is the alternative phrasing

Surface Forms

deck of cards singular

Morphology

deck + of + card

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from the constituents: a 'deck' as a pack and 'cards' as playing cards, with 'of' as a linking function word. This construction is cross-linguistically common and follows standard noun + of + noun composition, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The noun deck of cards comes from the image of a neat pile: a deck is a tidy pack and the cards are the thin pieces kept together. So, a deck of cards means the full 'set' of playing cards you use in a game.