▪ I. † doss, n.1 Obs.
Also 5 doce.
[a. F. dos:—late L. *dossum, for dorsum back.]
= dorse n.1 1, dosser1 1.
| 1482 Ld. Beauchamp Will, Doce and redoce of red velvet. c 1490 Promp. Parv. 127/2 (MS. K.) Dosse, dossorium. 1533 Coronat. Q. Anne in Arb. Garner (1879) II. 50 The blue 'ray cloth spread from the high dosses of the Kings Bench unto the high altar of Westminster. |
▪ II. doss, n.2 slang.
(dɒs)
Also 8 dorse.
[Prob. of same origin as doss n.1: cf. doss v.2]
1. A place for sleeping in, a bed; esp. a bed in a common lodging-house. Also with suffixed adv.
| 1789 G. Parker Life's Painter 165 (Farmer) Dorse, the place where a person sleeps, or a bed. 1846 Swell's Night Guide 77 She stalled a lushy swaddy to a doss t'other darky. 1847 G. W. M. Reynolds Myst. London III. xxv. 71/2 May she be faithful to thy doss. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 336 (Hoppe) In course the man paid..for the dos (bed). c 1880 Barnardo Taken out of Gutter 2 The coveted ‘doss’, as the bed in a threepenny lodging-house is called. 1892 R. Carrick Romance Lake Wakatipu iv. 16 [The bed] was accounted a luxury..compared with the doss-down the digger in pursuit of his calling was accustomed to. 1943 J. B. Hislop Pure Gold & Rough Diamonds 117, I thought it a great labour-saving idea and a great place for a doss-out. 1956 E. Blyton Myst. Missing Man xvii. 130 Only an old fellow who wants a doss-down somewhere. |
2. Sleep.
| 1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 118 (Farmer) Into this..retreat, the lads crept..to enjoy their doss, as, in their slang, they called sleep. 1887 Daily News 29 Sept. 7/2 [Bargeman] To tell you the truth, we were having a doss (sleeping) in the cabin. |
3. Comb. doss-house, a common lodging-house; doss-man, the keeper of a ‘doss-house’.
| 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 380 The Duck lane doss man. 1888 Pall Mall G. 6 Oct. 4/1 Lord Compton's proposal for an inquiry by a Select Committee into the ‘doss-houses’ of London. 1891 Spectator 14 Mar. 385/2 Preferable..to the contamination of the doss-house. |
▸ Brit. colloq. An activity or experience regarded as easy, fun, or requiring little effort; an enjoyably undemanding enterprise, esp. one providing opportunities for idling; a soft option. Freq. with a.
| 1985 Guardian 28 Aug. 11/1 Boys and girls sometimes arrive at the one-time stately home, free of bolts and bars, thinking they've landed themselves ‘a doss’. 1990 M. Hodkinson Wedding Present 11 It was not a proper band. It was just a doss. We used to do daft songs like ‘Twist And Shout’. 1992 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 3 Aug. 4 Art and music are quite popular, but they're considered a bit of a doss. Things like languages and economics are more useful. 1996 Observer 7 July (Review section) 6/1 Imagine—what a doss! Being in the most successful, most exciting, most deified band in Britain. 2000 Courier Mag. (Aberystwyth Univ. Students' Union) 2 Dec. 14/1 Even though the first semester of drama seemed like a doss, from semester two onwards I would be on the course with the biggest workload in the entire university. |
▪ III. doss, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(dɒs)
[Origin obscure.
It may be partly onomatopœic, under the combined influence of dush (or dash) and toss. Cf. also MDu. dossen, intens. of dosen, doesen, to strike with violence and noise (Kilian).]
1. a. intr. To push with the horns, as a bull. b. trans. To toss (the horns). c. To butt, toss, or gore (a person) with the horns. dial.
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xx. 119 [These] doe dosse with their hornes like madde bulles against all good Gouernment and policie. 1589 Pasquil's Ret. C iv, They are called Bulles, because they dosse out theyr hornes against the truth. 1596 H. Clapham Briefe Bible ii. 129 The Deuill..is introduced with his Hornes, even for dossing (ey destroying) this Man-childe Jesus. c 1680 Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism Wks. 1716 I. 91 You may know the Nature of the Beast..by her Dossing at Men on all trivial occasions. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Doss, to attack with the horns, as a bull, a ram, or a he-goat. |
2. Sc. To throw down with force; to toss down.
| a 1745 W. Meston Poems (1767) 106 (Jam.) Resolv'd to make him count and reckon, And doce down. a 1809 Christmas Ba'ing in J. Skinner Misc. Poet. (1809) 134 (Jam.) The pensy blades doss'd down on stanes. |
▪ IV. doss, v.2 slang.
Also 8 dorse, 9 dos.
[Goes with doss n.2]
intr. To sleep; esp. to sleep at a common lodging-house or ‘doss-house’ (see doss n.2 3). Also with down. Hence ˈdossing vbl. n.; also attrib.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., To dorse..to sleep. 1789 G. Parker Life's Painter 165 (Farmer), I dorsed there last darkey. 1838 Comic Almanack Apr. (Farmer) The hulks is now my bowsing-crib, the hold my dossing⁓ken. 1888 Earl Compton Sp. House Commons 5 Oct., A select committee to inquire into the ‘dossing’ or lodging-house system. 1895 Tablet 14 Sept. 426 Charges of theft, begging, ‘dossing out’, and other juvenile misdemeanours. 1896 N.Z. Alpine Jrnl. II. ix. 169 Hodgkins and I ‘dossed down’ by the side of it. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 4, I wos dossin' dahn at Shorty's. 1899 J. Bell Shadow of Bush iii. 11 There is a spare bunk in the wharé for one..and the other can doss down somewhere. 1924 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 31/2 We made a pretence of dossing down. 1932 Daily Express 25 June 17/6 If he wants to be on his way at daybreak he dosses down with his face to the east. |
▸ intr. Brit. colloq. To fool about, to mess around; to pass time idly or aimlessly; to be lazy. Usu. with about, around.
| 1937 E. Partridge Dict. Slang 236/1 Doss, to ‘hang the time out’, to loaf. 1978 P. Marsh et al. Rules of Disorder ii. 46 Anybody that works in a lesson..that you know you're going to doss about in,..you get called ‘ponce’ and everything. 1987 R.A.D./BMX Action Bike Sept. 16/2 Cruise down to Bike City on your board... Even carry it with you to the precinct over the road, where kids have dossed about since the place opened..and you're in big trouble. 1995 Sugar Apr. 15/1 So some days you fancy being a bit of a Waynetta Slob and dossing around in your mud-smeared tracky pants and holiest old t-shirt? Fine! 2000 Wells Jrnl. (Electronic ed.) 27 Apr. In his words he then ‘dossed about a bit and saw something of the country’, spending time in Kendal, in the Lake District, where he worked for Burtons. |
▪ V. doss(e
obs. form of dose.