dozen Hear it!

dozen Definition

dozen (duzən)

noun pl. -·ens, -·en

  1. a set of twelve
  2. a large number

Etymology: ME dozeine < OFr dozaine < douze, twelve < L duodecim, twelve < duo, two + decem, ten

dozen Related Forms
doz·enth adjective
dozen Idioms

the dozens

Slang a form of verbal play in which the participants exchange witty, ribald taunts and insults, often specif. about each other's mother

dozen Synonyms

dozen

modif.

twelve, baker's dozen, long dozen, handful, pocketful.

dozen Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • injure: Ten people were killed and over a dozen injured by a parachute mine at South Merstham in April of 1941.
  • seize: Direct home billing seized two dozen are not interested.
  • kill: The bear had been blamed for killing dozens of sheep.
  • introduce: Each year we introduce dozens of new toys, yet many of our original designs have remained consistently popular for two decades.
  • contain: PAWS Animal Shelter contains dozens of cats within three small rooms.
  • arrest: Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes told Assignment the government was working closely with the police and has arrested dozens of traffickers.

Adjective modifier

  • dirty: The dirty dozen Tim Atkin on wines with pulling power plus his 12 top bottles for seduction.
  • several: At this time the black spiky larvae can often be seen basking in clusters of several dozen.
  • few: Membership of the group grew from a few dozen In the 1940s to around 700 at the turn of the century.

Modifies a noun

  • yard: Christie made a powerful run to the bye line and from his cutback Thomas scored with a shot from a dozen yards.
  • egg: Do you know sir, I put six dozen eggs in that cask.
  • bottle: In PP, their original supplies taken to the gold fields included three dozen bottles of ginger pop.
  • mile: The history of dozen miles of hawaii dinner cruise head back down.
  • meter: Please allow for a small error in the co-ordinates of up to a couple of dozen meters.
  • species: Altogether, more than a dozen species of mammal have been recorded.

Noun used with modifier

  • half: I must get a half dozen offers of University Diplomas each week.

Possessives

  • baker: If you have a baker's dozen or so of good poems, why spread them thin, or sit on them?

Preposition: of

  • Albanian: The police reportedly burned homes and killed dozens of ethnic Albanians in these raids.
  • toy: Each year we introduce dozens of new toys, yet many of our original designs have remained consistently popular for two decades.
  • stall: There was a full program of entertainment with dozens of stalls and attractions for everyone.
dozen Quotes

A good poet is someone who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times; a dozen or two dozen times and he is great.

—Jarrell, Randall

Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit.

—Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'FlahertieWills

Browse dictionary entries near dozen

  1. doze
  2. doz
  3. doyley
  4. Doyle
  5. doyenne
  6. doyen
  7. doxy
  8. doxology
  9. dowse
  10. dowry
  1. dozy
  2. dp
  3. DPCM
  4. DPH
  5. DPhil
  6. dpi
  7. DPLC
  8. DPM
  9. DPSK
  10. dpt