dice

dice with death take serious risks.

☞ Dice with is used here in the general sense of 'play a game of chance with'. In the mid 20th century dice with death was a journalistic cliché used to convey the risks taken by racing drivers; the expression seems for some time to have been especially connected with motoring, although it is now used of other risky activities. It gave rise to the use of dicing as a slang word among drivers for 'driving in a race', and it can be compared with dicey meaning 'dangerous', a word which originated in 1950s air-force slang.

load the dice against: seeload.

no dice used to refuse a request or indicate that there is no chance of success. North American informal

1990Paul AusterThe Music of Chance Sorry kid. No dice. You can talk yourself blue in the face, but I'm not going.

roll the dice: seeroll.

slice and dice: seeslice.

throw of the dice a risky attempt to do or achieve something

2009Guardian A report … warning that a third Heathrow runway could become a white elephant looks like a last throw of the dice before the government approves the project.