dozen

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A group or set of twelve.

   Can I have a dozen eggs, please?

2. 2
   noun

   A fairly large but unspecified number; many.

   There were dozens of people waiting outside the shop.

3. 3
   adj

   Amounting to twelve.

   She bought a dozen roses for her mother.

4. 4
   verb

   historical northern English dialect: to shrivel, wither, or waste away

   The apples had dozened in storage until their skins were wrinkled and dry.

From Middle English dozen, dozein, doseyne, from Old French dozaine (‘a group of twelve’) (modern French douzaine), from doze (‘twelve’) + -aine (‘-ish’), ultimately from Latin duodecim (‘twelve’). The unrelated historical northern English verb, also written dozzen, is probably connected with doze through older senses such as ‘to become torpid’; its deeper origin is uncertain.

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