dozen
1 Americannoun
plural
dozens,plural
dozen-
a group of 12.
-
Slang. the dozens, a ritualized game typically engaged in by two persons each of whom attempts to outdo the other in insults directed against members of the other's family (usually used in the phraseplay the dozens ).
adjective
verb (used with object)
determiner
noun
-
in large quantities
-
See baker's dozen
-
to talk without stopping
Other Word Forms
- dozenth adjective
Etymology
Origin of dozen1
1250–1300; Middle English dozeine < Old French do ( u ) zaine, equivalent to do ( u ) ze (< Latin duodecim ) + -aine (< Latin -āna ) -an
Origin of dozen1
1325–75; Middle English (Scots); doze 1
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.
This was the age of robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, whose Standard Oil was a business “trust” comprising dozens of companies in numerous vertically linked industries.
From Barron's
This was the age of robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, whose Standard Oil was a business “trust” comprising dozens of companies in numerous vertically linked industries.
From Barron's
She said he had been on the books of more than a dozen organisations when she found him dead in an adult homeless hostel at 16.
From BBC
Lilly leads in research, with 69 studies and 47 of them in Phase 3, as it explores a dozen different physiological targets in our body’s weight regulation.
From Barron's
He will be one of a dozen votes on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, and can’t single-handedly force rates down.
From Barron's
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.
