dozen1
[duhz-uh n]
- a group of 12.
- the dozens, Slang. 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 phrase play the dozens).
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Origin of dozen1
1250–1300; Middle English dozeine < Old French do(u)zaine, equivalent to do(u)ze (< Latin duodecim) + -aine (< Latin -āna) -an
dozen2
[doh-zuh n]
- to stun.
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Origin of dozen2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dozens
Contemporary Examples
Within hours, the Indonesian navy said dozens of bodies were being seen.
Dozens of tearful family members huddled at the Surabaya and Singapore airports, anxiously awaiting news of loved ones.
Justin gazed out from the dim interior as more than 300 police motorcycles from dozens of jurisdictions rumbled past.
So the following year dozens of Santas, in full red and white trim, boarded a plane to Portland.
Emory is also one of dozens of higher education institutions with open Title IX sexual violence investigations.
Historical Examples
Centipedes and millipedes in dozens came too, and were not welcome.
Green MansionsW. H. Hudson
There were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of them; I am not deaf.
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
Now, there are dozens of catacombs; the environs of Rome are honeycombed with them.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
And yet there were dozens of other points where an attack in force was possible.
That stranger fully meant to send her off, too; he said so dozens of times.
Cy Whittaker's PlaceJoseph C. Lincoln
dozens
- (usually foll by of) informal a lotI've got dozens of things to do
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dozen
- (preceded by a or a numeral)
- twelve or a group of twelvea dozen eggs; two dozen oranges
- (as pronoun; functioning as sing or plural)give me a dozen; there are at least a dozen who haven't arrived yet
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- by the dozen in large quantities
- See baker's dozen
- talk nineteen to the dozen to talk without stopping
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See also dozens
Word Origin
C13: from Old French douzaine, from douze twelve, from Latin duodecim, from duo two + decem ten
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for dozens
dozen
n.
c.1300, from Old French dozaine "a dozen," from doze (12c.) "twelve," from Latin duodecim "twelve," from duo "two" + decem "ten" (see ten).
The Old French fem. suffix -aine is characteristically added to cardinals to form collectives in a precise sense ("exactly 12," not "about 12"). The dozens "invective contest" (1928) originated in slave culture, the custom probably African, the word probably from bulldoze (q.v.) in its original sense of "a whipping, a thrashing."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with dozens
dozen
see baker's dozen; by the dozen; daily dozen; dime a dozen; six of one, half dozen of the other.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.