cold deck

American  

noun

Cards Slang.

1. a pack with the cards in prearranged order, secretly exchanged for the one in use; stacked deck.

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Etymology

Origin of cold deck

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60

Example Sentences

You always had in mind the fact that all these guys were in foxholes someplace or sitting out on some cold deck somewhere.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was not long before the cold deck came up, and then the boys began to bet lively, each getting in a few hundred.

From Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by Devol, George H.

Blair has rung in a cold deck on us.

From The Sheriff's Son by Raine, William MacLeod

I got it and I’m seeing that they don’t ring in any cold deck on you.”

From The Trail to Yesterday by Seltzer, Charles Alden

So I ran in a cold deck on them—the first time I ever did such a thing in my life.

From Trent's Trust, and Other Stories by Harte, Bret