dice [ME] Originally—and still in the USA—a gambler would throw two dice but one die. This singular form is now rare in British English, surviving mainly in the die is cast, ‘something has happened that cannot be undone’ said by Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon (see cross). The word came from Latin datum ‘something given, starting point’, a form of dare ‘to give’. This was interpreted as ‘something given by chance or fortune’ and applied to the dice determining the outcome of chance. Playing or gambling with dice is the idea behind dicing with death. Journalists began to use the expression in the early 20th century to convey the risks taken by racing drivers in the pursuit of success in their sport. It is probably the source of the adjective dicey meaning ‘dangerous’, first used by RAF pilots in the 1950s. See also bodice.