Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Games The lowest possible throw of dice, two single pips.
- noun Bad luck; misfortune.
- noun The smallest amount possible or the most worthless thing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic Two ones; the lowest throw at
dice ; a pair ofaces . - noun archaic
Bad luck ,worthlessness .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English ambes as, from Old French : Latin ambās, feminine accusative of ambō, both + as, unit.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Old French ambes + as, from Latin ambo + as.
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Examples
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Aeschylus, it seems to me, is willing, just as Shakespeare is, to risk the prosperity of a verse upon a lucky throw of words, which may come up the sices of hardy metaphor or the ambsace of conceit.
Among My Books First Series James Russell Lowell 1855
sionnach commented on the word ambsace
bad luck, worthlessness, a pair of aces on dice, snake eyes.
April 14, 2008
qms commented on the word ambsace
Stern Ernest has put on his game face,
Determined to hasten this tame pace.
His well comes up dry,
He gets scant reply.
His queries produce only ambsace.
Find out more about Ernest Bafflewit
October 30, 2014