deque
n.n. a special list in computer programming where you can add or remove items from both the front and the back. It is short for 'double-ended queue'.
n. a linear data structure that allows the insertion and deletion of elements from both the front and the rear. Often pronounced like 'deck', it combines the capabilities of a stack and a queue.
The programmer used a deque to store the recent history of actions.
When building the undo-redo feature, the developer chose a deque to efficiently manage operations at both ends of the list.
In computational geometry, a deque is frequently employed to maintain the vertices of a convex hull during incremental construction due to its constant-time operations at both extremities.
A portmanteau of 'double-ended' and 'queue', coined by Donald Knuth in 1963.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in computer science and software engineering contexts; typically pronounced as 'deck'.
Last updated July 22, 2026