▪ I. dozen, n.
(ˈdʌz(ə)n)
Forms: 4 dozein(e, dozyne, dosain, dosene, 4–5 dozeyn(e, doseyn(e, 4–6 dosayn(e, dosein, 4–7 dosen, 5 duzan, dusan(e, dosan, dussen, 6 dousaine, -ayne, dossen, -eyn, -in, -on, dosin, -yn, doosen, dosand, 6–7 dousen, 7 doozen, dozzen, dossein, 7–8 douzen, 6– dozen. β. 5 disson, Sc. 6 desone, 8– dizzen.
[a. OF. dozeine, dosaine, Fr. douzaine = Pr. dotzena, Sp. docena, a Com. Romanic deriv. of *dōdece, dotze, doze, doce:—L. duodecim twelve + -ēna, as in decēna, centēna, etc.]
1. A group or set of twelve. Originally as a n., followed by of, but often with ellipsis of of, and thus, in singular = twelve. Also, used colloq. in pl., either indefinitely or hyperbolically, for any moderately large number; cf. hundred n. and a. 2. (Abbreviated doz.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11407 (Cott.) Quen ani deid o þat dozein [v. rr. dozeine, doseyn, dozyne]. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 670 A dosain of wondrus. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 164 Dauwe þe disschere, and a doseyn oþer [B. dozeine C. dosen]. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 46 Halfe a dosen sponys. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 118 b, A thynge done, perauenture a dosyn yere before. 15.. A Pore Helpe 335 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 264 And feche in my cosens By the whole dosens. 1555 Bradford in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xlv. 133 Halfe a dossen of grene salletts. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. ii. 172 Cardinals that are made by the dozens. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 203 A dozen of Knives. 1734 Pope Sober Advice from Horace in Poet. Wks. (1966) 395 Dangers on Dangers! Obstacles by dozens! 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 58, I saw some dozens of these little animals. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Spir. Laws Wks. (Bohn) I. 65 There are not..more than a dozen persons. a 1897 Mod. Six dozen pencils. 1898 G. B. Shaw Philanderer I. iii. 133 There are dozens of men who would give their souls for a look from me. 1913 D. H. Lawrence in Sat. Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 9/3 Dozens of men were lounging round the cart. 1961 M. Kenny Spanish Tapestry ii. i. 125 Dozens of tailors squat over their sewing. 1986 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. b9/6 The new league signed dozens of high N.F.L. draft choices. |
b. Elliptical (with a noun of measure, etc., understood). dozen of bread: a dozen loaves. dozen of beer, ale, wine, etc., i.e. a dozen pots or bottles; hence rump(-steak) and a dozen: see quot. 1893. to give one two dozen, i.e. lashes.
| 1573–80 Baret Alv. D 1078 A dosen of bread, duodecim panes. 1574 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 376 Payed for dozen of breade..iiijs. 1677 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 37 A dozen of Margett ale. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxviii, ‘I'll bet a rump and dozen’, said Pleydell. 1835 C. Shaw Let. 6 Dec. in Mem. (1837) II. 453, I ordered them..to receive two dozen each, being caught in the act. 1839 A. Somerville Hist. Brit. Legion iii. 42 He was tied up, and..took his two dozen. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 4 Feb. 8/3 The stake being a ‘rump-steak and a dozen’... It was explained that it was a dinner and as much as you liked to drink. |
c. With qualifying words. baker's dozen (see baker 6), devil's dozen, long dozen, printer's dozen: thirteen. brown dozen (obs.) or round dozen: a full dozen. thirteen, (etc.) to the dozen: see quots. to talk nineteen to the dozen: to talk very fast, or to excess.
| a 1529 Skelton Bowge of Courte 393 Have at the hasarde; or at the dosen browne. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 34 Pay it you with advantage, at least thirteene to the dozen. 1598 in Lambert 2000 years of Guild Life (1892) 308 All the saide Company will deliver forthe theire breade..xiijten to the dozen. 1820 Byron Blues i. 36 A round dozen of authors and others. 1831 Blackw. Mag. XXX. 343/2 Instead of one kick, he deserves and gets a devil's dozen. 1872 Ouida Fitz's Election 210 She..generally talked nineteen to the dozen. |
† 2. A kind of kersey or coarse woollen cloth: see quot. 1552. (Usually in pl.) Obs.
| 1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 1 Northerne whites, commonly named and called dosins. 1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 6. §13 All Devonshire Kersies called Dozens..shall contain in Length at the Water between twelve and thirteen Yards. 1557 Act 4 & 5 Phil. & Mary c. 5. §10 Every Devonshire Kersie, called Dosson. 1640 in Entick London (1766) II. 179 Woollen Drapery ― Devonshire dozens..Northern dozens. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. II. 309 English Clothes called Dozens. |
† 3. The town-council of a burgh. Sc. Obs.
[‘Prob. so called because it originally consisted of twelve members’ (Donaldson Supp. to Jamieson). Cf. also ]
| 1416 in Edin. Burgh Rec. Oct. (Jam. Supp.), Aldermannus pro presenti anno, one dene of gild..one bursator, thirty two of lie dusane. 1418 Ibid. Oct., The dusane is callit ‘duodecim consules et limitatores’. 1492 Ibid. 19 Oct., Ordanit be the hale dusane of the town. 1574 in Peebles Burgh Rec. |
† 4. Corruptly used for Anglo-French dizeyne (Fr. dixaine) a tithing, or group of ten households. Obs.
| [1292 Britton i. xiii. [xii.] §1 Et voloms qe touz soint en dizeyne [v. rr. duzeyne, dozein] et pleviz par dizeyners [v. rr. dozeyners, dozainers].] 15.. Act 18 Edw. II (Berthelet 1543) If al the chiefe pledges or their dosens bee come. 1624 Termes de la Ley s.v. Deciner, Deciner is not now used for the chiefe man of a Dozein, but for him that is sworne, to the Kings peace. 1672 Cowell Interpr. s.v. Deciner, Now there are no other Dozens but Leets. |
5. the dozens: a Black American game or ritualized exchange of verbal insults, usu. about the family (esp. the mother) of one's opponent or opponents: (see quot. 1984 and to play the dozens s.v. play v. 16 e); to put (etc.) in the dozens: to subject to or involve in this form of exchange. Cf. signify v. 8, sound v.1 3 d.
| 1928 R. Fisher Walls of Jericho 9 For it is the gravest of insults, this so-called ‘slipping in the dozens.’ To disparage a man is one thing; to disparage his family is another. 1935 D. L. Cohn God shakes Creation vi. 161 Another prolific source of shootings and stabbings flows from what they call ‘putting 'em in de dozens’. This is a form of Rabelaisian banter engaged in by two or more Negroes. At a gathering one Negro may begin by saying, ‘Yo' mammy hists her tail like a cat.’.. Aspersion after aspersion is cast. 1942 Amer. N. & Q. I. 156/1 ‘Playing the Dozens.’.. This is a widely used phrase among the Negroes in North Carolina (and very likely in most of the South). 1962 R. D. Abrahams in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 299 One will..find girls making dozens-type remarks. 1970 R. D. Abrahams Positively Black iv. 88 He got your whole family in the dozens and your sister on the shelf. 1971 B. Malamud Tenants 131 ‘Chum,’ he said,..‘we have a game we got we call the dozens.’ 1978 Amer. Poetry Rev. July/Aug. 44/3 All you have to do to keep them in their proper place, which is deep in the dozens, is to pat your feet and snap your fingers. 1984 Maledicta 1983 VII. 183 Many cultures have cursing and counter-cursing games, such as the Black American ‘dozens’. The purpose of the dozens is to test the participants' ability to take abuse without reacting. The participants must have a response, they must not show hurt, and they must not react with violence. |
▪ II. dozen, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈdəʊz(ə)n)
Forms: 5 doysen, 5–8 dosen, 6 dosin, 8– dozen (9 dozzen).
[Prob. of Norse origin, repr. an inchoative verb in -na, from the stem of doze v.]
1. trans. To stun, stupefy, daze.
(But app. found only in pa. pple., which might belong to an intrans. vb.: cf. 2.)
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xviii. 126 Mowbray..had beyne doysnyt [v.r. dosnyt] in the ficht. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 71 Both deife and dosened. a 1810 Tannahill Poet Wks. (1844) 86 Dorothy, dozened wi' living her lane. |
2. trans. To make insensible, torpid, or powerless; to benumb. (Only in pa. pple.)
| 1576 Trial Eliz. Dunlop in P. H. Brown Scot. bef. 1700 (1893) 212 The merch of the bane was consumit and the blude dosinit. 1789 Burns Ep. Jas. Tennent 6 My dearest member nearly dozen'd. 1832 Carrick in Whistle-binkie (Sc. Songs) (1890) I. 203 Birds Dozened sit on the frosty spray. |
3. intr. To become torpid or benumbed.
| 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. i. ii, A dish o' married love right soon grows cauld And dozens down to nane. a 1774 Fergusson Poems xi. (Jam.) The birds..Dozen in silence on the bending spray. |
Hence ˈdozened ppl. a., benumbed, torpid.
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. II. 119 Thou dosend drone. 1828 Brockett N.C. Words, Dozened, spiritless, impotent, withered. 1833 Galt in Fraser's Mag. VIII. 651 With a natural inclination (as all old bachelors have) to be dozened. |