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As per Cambridge dictionary and others, the word 'deck' in its verb form means to decorate or add something to something to make an effect: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/deck

However, I see two ways of using the verb in practice: deck with and deck out in

When I went through the examples quoted on most of the dictionary sites, I came to an understanding that, "decked with" is generally used to refer to objects, places or things — The room is decked with flowers.

Where as, "decked out in" is used when we refer to people and their clothes — The guests were decked out in fancy clothes.

I have not found examples where they are interchangeably used except the usage of decked in used with people in bible-related old texts — decked thee with ornaments.
https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/16-11.htm

I am not sure if my understanding is correct.

Questions:

#1 Can "decked with" be used to explain someone wearing jewels on them? for ex: She was decked with brilliant jewels.

#2 Can "decked out in" be used to explain a non-living thing like a room or place? for ex: The room was decked out in flowers.

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    All four prepositional elements (in, with, out in, out with) are in common use, and essentially they're all equivalent. But it's a declining "literary" usage, so your perception of "natural" usage may be influenced by past published examples. Here are the most common words to follow decked with......
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 13 at 19:56
  • ...and you can generate the same chart for decked in, decked out in and decked out with. They're all much of a muchness to me. You might discern a slight tendency to use different permutations f preposition for different "deckings", but it's not clear-cut enough to identify any useful "usage rules". The full OED has all variants under one definition, btw.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 13 at 19:58
  • Oxford Learners Dictionary has "The room was decked out in flowers and balloons." It seems extraordinary to ask if "The room was decked out in flowers" is valid and not Google it. Seems like a failure to do basic research.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 14 at 21:19

2 Answers 2

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The final preposition is the dispositive one.

deck out in

deck out with

in is used with attire and things worn

with is used with ornaments, flowers, baubles, etc

P.S. The verb deck out (in) is informal; it is somewhat reductive, diminishing the importance of the attendant pomp to some degree, though not to the point of biting sarcasm:

The queen was decked out in her tiara and necklace.

The prom-goers were decked out in their rented gowns and tuxes.

The chieftain was decked out in brightly colored feathers and a necklace of human teeth.

P.P.S. And it's not that there is an absolute divide. If the preposition with is used of brooches and rings, that usage turns the bearer, subtly, into a decorated object, an arrangement.

NOTE: Just as the items a room is decked out with can be taken down and removed, the items a person is decked out in are also temporary. We would not say that a person was decked out in or with tattoos.

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  • CD has 'The restaurant is decked out in surf memorabilia to give it a seaside atmosphere.' A strong smack of personification. The inverse of your PPS (depersonalisation).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 15 at 12:32
  • @EdwinAshworth Although "in" and "atmosphere" are working at cross-purposes there.
    – TimR
    Commented Jul 15 at 13:08
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However, I see two ways of using the verb in practice: deck with and deck out in

Note that the "out" functions as an adverb and is not necessary

We decked [out] the halls with boughs of holly.

The preposition with is instrumental - it tells is what we used to achieve the action of the verb. (I dug the garden with a spade.)

We decked [out] the halls in boughs of holly.

The preposition "in" in this context, describes the material.

OED

In Prep.

II.26. Expressing material or constituents.

"I asked him to paint the portrait in oils, but he painted it in watercolour."

There is no limit as to the nature of the object of "with" or "in"

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  • I don't see it makes much difference whether the preposition implies "instrumentality" or "constituents". It just so happens the deck the halls with boughs of holly is a very well known sequence. decked / bedecked in / with pearls - they all occur, and presumably all mean exactly the same thing (how could it be otherwise?).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 13 at 23:22
  • @FumbleFingers "presumably all mean exactly the same thing" - As general guidance, in English, if a words or phrasesares different, they have different meanings or, at least nuances - English has very, very few true synonyms.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Jul 15 at 11:28
  • So far as I'm concerned, the actual literal meanings of The room is decked with flowers and The room is bedecked with flowers are identical. The difference is simply one of register, and even that is less recognizable today, since decked itself is now a relatively "high, literary" register the same as bedecked.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 15 at 14:23
  • @FumbleFingers There is a difference: OED prefix "be-" 1. Forming derivative verbs, with sense of ‘around’: 1.a. All round externally, on all sides, all over the surface, as in beset v., besmear v.; 1.b. from side to side (within a space), to and fro, in all directions, in all ways, in or through all its parts, thoroughly, as in bestir v., bejumble. (Some of these formations appear only in the past participle.)
    – Greybeard
    Commented Jul 15 at 23:21
  • That makes no sense to me. The sequences room is decked with and room is bedecked with occur about equally often, and I don't for a moment believe the bedecked ones are describing anything any different to the decked ones if and when they're followed by the same noun (for example, flowers). It may well be that some people are more likely to use one word or the other in any specific context - just as some other people are more more likely to use one of the two in any context. But that doesn't imply the words themselves really have different meanings.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jul 16 at 0:23

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