doss
Americannoun
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a place to sleep, especially in a cheap lodging house.
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I had some great doss last night, and I'm feeling pretty good today.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to sleep, esp in a dosshouse
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to pass time aimlessly
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dosssimple
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dossessimple
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have dossedperfect
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has dossedperfect
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am dossingprogressive
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are dossingprogressive
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is dossingprogressive
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have been dossingperfect progressive
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has been dossingperfect progressive
Past
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dossedsimple
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had dossedperfect
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was dossingprogressive
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were dossingprogressive
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had been dossingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of doss
First recorded in 1775–85; origin obscure; perhaps from French dos, from Latin dorsum, dossum “back, ridge”
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.
See Examples For:
"The weather means they have not had much to do but doss around eating good grass," Mrs McGrath said.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2021
“I was raised with the idea that the arts were a doss – but the arts are vital,” he continues.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 30, 2016
The newcomers doss down in Atma's former police station.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2012
“Then”—she pointed to the bonnet of the tractor—“you can doss there.”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
One time, Pluto Noak opened the emergency exit for a doss.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
I don’t know but what it might be that there smooth young ’un who dosses hisself up to look like an English gent.
From Trapped by Malays A Tale of Bayonet and Kris by Spurrier, Steven
He grew up in Clydebank, dossed around at school and left with no qualifications.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 29, 2021
"Not in my bunk," returned Ned, who with Gribbs was one of the few who still dossed in the fo'c's'le.
From The Strand Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 161, May 1904 by Various
Like two needles in a blinkin' 'aystack clickin' every time—an' 'taint as if the Gunners dossed down reglar with the Line either.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, February 26, 1919 by Various
You couldn't put him into my seat and fly him to Kot Ghazi while I dossed down with the camel and waited for you to come for me.
From Snake and Sword A Novel by Wren, Percival Christopher
The party crossed Barnes Common in the small hours of the Monday morning, and dossed on Banstead Downs that night.
From Boy Woodburn A Story of the Sussex Downs by Ollivant, Alfred
Now, in a Tomb Raider movie out this week, Alicia Vikander plays a tearaway Croft dossing around in London.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2018
When I first heard he went missing, I thought he was just dossing around in someone's house.
From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2016
And by the way, we’re nicking this castle you’ve been dossing in and giving it to 100 poor families.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 13, 2014
It was Matilde and, if her reasoning might have been influenced by the possibility of Mourinho dossing about the lounge during the week, it was undoubtedly sound.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 9, 2014
But Gary Drake's Ross Wilcox's cousin so they're always dossing about together.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
