dozen









dozen


dozen 2[doh-zuh n] Word Origin verb (used with object) Scot.

  1. to stun.

Origin of dozen 2 1325–75; Middle English (Scots); see doze1 Related Words for dozened twelve British Dictionary definitions for dozened dozen determiner

  1. (preceded by a or a numeral)
    1. twelve or a group of twelvea dozen eggs; two dozen oranges
    2. (as pronoun; functioning as sing or plural)give me a dozen; there are at least a dozen who haven’t arrived yet

noun plural dozens or dozen

  1. by the dozen in large quantities
  2. See baker’s dozen
  3. talk nineteen to the dozen to talk without stopping

See also dozens Derived Formsdozenth, adjectiveWord Origin for dozen C13: from Old French douzaine, from douze twelve, from Latin duodecim, from duo two + decem ten Word Origin and History for dozened dozen n.

c.1300, from Old French dozaine “a dozen,” from doze (12c.) “twelve,” from Latin duodecim “twelve,” from duo “two” + decem “ten” (see ten).

The Old French fem. suffix -aine is characteristically added to cardinals to form collectives in a precise sense (“exactly 12,” not “about 12”). The dozens “invective contest” (1928) originated in slave culture, the custom probably African, the word probably from bulldoze (q.v.) in its original sense of “a whipping, a thrashing.”

Idioms and Phrases with dozened dozen

see baker’s dozen; by the dozen; daily dozen; dime a dozen; six of one, half dozen of the other.

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