doze
1 Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb (used without object)
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to sleep lightly or fitfully.
-
to fall into a light sleep unintentionally (often followed byoff ).
He dozed off during the sermon.
-
to sleep for a short time; nap.
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to be dull or half asleep.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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to sleep lightly or intermittently
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(often foll by off) to fall into a light sleep
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Other Word Forms
- dozer noun
Etymology
Origin of doze1
First recorded in 1940–45; shortened form of bulldoze
Origin of doze1
1640–50; originally (now obsolete) to stupefy, make drowsy; compare Scots, N England dialect dozened, Middle English ( Scots ) dosnyt, dosinnit stupefied, dazed; akin to Old Norse dūsa rest, Swedish dialect dusa doze, slumber, Middle Low German dusen to be thoughtless; daze
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He even seemed to doze off at one point in the middle of a presentation by Dr. Mehmet Oz, who runs Medicare and Medicaid, in the Oval Office.
From Salon
Through the night, several of them allegedly followed the southbound Brink’s truck, which was piloted by one driver while another dozed in the vehicle’s sleeping compartment.
From Los Angeles Times
When she did doze off, Dame Jacqueline said she wanted to sleep too but used the short window available to write.
From BBC
Sloths have a reputation for being sluggish and slow, spending most of their lives dozing in trees, but a new study suggests this is one of the enduring secrets of their success.
From BBC
Despite some low marks in her final years of high school, she’s unworried and unhurried, content to spend her days gazing at the water or dozing on the beach.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
