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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
Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025
The insurance goal finally came with 7:50 left to play when Sam Bennett won a race for a loose puck, dangled the puck on his stick, deked Woll in front of the net and fired a shot into the net.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 12 May 2025
After defenseman Aaron Ekblad forced a turnover, Bennett won a race for a loose puck, deked Woll and sunk his shot with 7:50 left in the third period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 11 May 2025
Dreyer deked Seattle defender Jonathan Bell, cutting back on the run and then dumping the ball off to a streaking Godoy.
—Kyle Kensing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2025
Less than a week after setting up Connor McDavid to win the 4 Nations Face-Off, Marner returned to Boston and deked his way past Jeremy Swayman for the overtime winner.
—Kevin Papetti, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
Matthews failed to score on a breakaway in the early third but deked out Wolf enough to set up Knies for a tap-in and complete the assist hat trick.
—Kevin Papetti, The Athletic, 5 Feb. 2025
Stars forward Tyler Seguin walked in all alone and Thompson dropped his left pad early, anticipating Seguin would deke to the far side of the net.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
This time, Thompson dropped his left pad to the ice early, because that was the direction the shooter would have to deke to get around him.
—Jesse Granger, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deke. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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