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Webster 1913 Edition


Dozen

Doz′en

(dŭz′’n)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Dozen
(before another noun),
Dozens
(dŭz′’nz)
.
[OE.
doseine
,
dosein
, OF.
doseine
, F.
douzaine
, fr.
douze
twelve, fr. L.
duodecim
;
duo
two +
decem
ten. See
Two
,
Ten
, and cf.
Duodecimal
.]
1.
A collection of twelve objects; a tale or set of twelve; with or without of before the substantive which follows.
“Some six or seven dozen of Scots.” “A dozen of shirts to your back.” “A dozen sons.” “Half a dozen friends.”
Shak.
2.
An indefinite small number.
Milton.
A baker’s dozen
,
thirteen; – called also a
long dozen
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Dozen

DOZEN

,
Adj.
Duzn. [G.] Twelve in number, applied to things of the same kind, but rarely or never to that number in the abstract. We say, a dozen men; a dozen pair of gloves. It is a word much used in common discourse and in light compositions; rarely in the grave or elevated style.

DOZEN

,
Noun.
The number twelve of things of a like kind; as a dozen of eggs; twelve dozen of gloves; a dozen of wine.

Definition 2024


dozen

dozen

English

Noun

dozen (plural dozens)

  1. (countable) A set of twelve.
    Can I have a dozen eggs, please?
    I ordered two dozen doughnuts.
    There shouldn't be more than two dozen Christmas cards left to write.
    Pack the shirts in dozens, please.
  2. (as plural only, always followed by of) A large, unspecified number of, comfortably estimated in small multiples of twelve, thus generally implied to be significantly more than ten or twelve, but less than perhaps one or two hundred; many.
    There must have been dozens of examples just on the first page.
    There were dozens and dozens of applicants before the job was posted.
    • 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128:
      Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.
  3. (metallurgy) An old English measure of ore containing 12 hundredweight.
    • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, p. 139
      The dozen as a measure for iron ore remained almost completely constant at 12 cwts. during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (followed by of: a large number of): few

Abbreviations

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Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -oːzən

Noun

dozen

  1. Plural form of doos

Anagrams