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Deke originated as a shortened form of decoy. American writer Ernest Hemingway used deke as a noun referring to hunting decoys in a number of his works, including his 1950 novel Across the River and into the Trees ("I offered to put the dekes out with him"). In the 1940s, deke began appearing in ice-hockey contexts in Canadian print sources in reference to the act of faking an opponent out of position—much like how decoy is used for luring one into a trap. Today, deke has scored in many other sports, including baseball, basketball, soccer, and football. It has also occasionally checked its way into more general usage to refer to deceptive or evasive moves or actions.
Examples of deke in a Sentence
Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2024
Roberts, however, said Rojas was trying to deke the runner at first base to prevent him from going to second, putting a glove up as nothing more than a decoy believing Muncy was positioned to get the ball behind him.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2024
But Vargas made amends with his double play to end the eighth, getting an assist from shortstop Miguel Rojas, who deked O’Neill just enough at second base to delay the Red Sox runner’s retreat back to first.
—Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2024
The Gael senior deked one more time to unsettle BYU’s already shaky defense, and then finally popped a quick pass to Mario’s older brother Erich on his left, who motored into the try zone for another Saint Mary’s five-pointer.
—Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 20 Apr. 2024
The Flames would eventually reward Markstrom with a three-goal lead when Backlund deked around Thompson in the crease before tapping it in for his 10th goal of the season.
—W.g. Ramirez, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2024
Allen Blaylock caught a sideline pass, deked a defender and sprinted 43 yards for a touchdown to clinch the victory with 1:21 left.
—Steve Galluzzo, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
The defender used her long reach and some slick moves to deke past the St. Mary’s defender, and coolly finished the play with a backhander to beat Catino.
—Olivia Nolan, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Mar. 2023
Bartz dangles between a pair of Albert Lea defenders for the breakaway chance, then dekes the goalie with a series of stick moves to open up the pads and score five-hole.
—USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'deke.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Deke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deke. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
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