baker's dozen

plural baker's dozens · plural bakers' dozens

1. idiomaticThirteen; a group of thirteen.First known use 1590s

   A Baker's Dozen, Treize dans la Douzaine.

   Royal Dictionary, French and English. The French Taken from the Dictionaries of Richelet, Furetiere, Tachard, the French Academy, & the Remarks of Vaugelas, Menage & Bouhours. Divided into Two Parts

   [1702, [Abel] Boyer, “A Baker’s Dozen”, in Dictionnaire Royal, François et Anglois. Le Francois Tiré des Dictionnaires de Richelet, Furetiere, Tachard, de l’Academie Françoise, & des Remarques de Vaugelas, Menage & Bouhours. Divisé en Deux Parties [Royal Dictionary, French and English. The French Taken from the Dictionaries of Richelet, Furetiere, Tachard, the French Academy, & the Remarks of Vaugelas, Menage & Bouhours. Divided into Two Parts], volume I, The Hague: Chez Adrian Moetjens, Marchand Libraire près la Cour, à la Librairie Françoise, →OCLC

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   [L]et him caſt his Eye upon the laſt Page of that Book, where Mr. Blount has tranſlated a Quotation out of Scaliger de Emend. brought by the Author of the Præadamitæ; now he tranſlates Octingenties octagies, not eight hundred and eighty, but eight hundred and eightſcore; as if the Romans had uſed to reckon by ſcores. He might altogether as well, have made them number by Bakers-Dozens.

   1696, William Nicholls, “The Preface to the Reader”, in A Conference with a Theist. Wherein I. Are Shewn the Absurdities in the Pretended Eternity of the World. II. The Difficulties in the Mosaick Creation are Cleared. III. The Lapse of Mankind is Defended, against the Objections of Archæologiæ Philosophicæ, The Oracles of Reason, &c., London: Printed by T[homas] W[arren] for Francis Saunders at the Blue-Anchor in the New-Exchange; and Tho[mas] Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard, →OCLC

   What! though by accident we've loſt / Of provinces a baker's dozen; / More bleſſings has our King produc'd, / By our good Queen his German couſin—

   1787 August, “Irregular Ode on His Majesty’s Birth Day”, in The Gentleman’s and London Magazine: Or, Monthly Chronologer, Dublin: Printed by John Exshaw, →OCLC, page 439, column 2

   Maffæus [Maffeo Vegio] seems to have thought that the liberal mind of Virgil could never have been satisfied with giving his readers less than a baker's dozen for their money, and therefore he added a thirteenth to the numbers of the Æneid, such as he imagined the Mantuan would himself have written if he had lived to perfect his own design.

   1808 December, “Art. V. Poems, by Mary Leadbeater, (late Shackleton,) to which is Prefixed Her Translation of the 13th Book of the Æneid; with the Latin Original, Written in the 15th Century, by Maffæus. 8vo. pp. 419. 8s. Boards. Dublin, Keene; London, Longman and Co. &c. 1808.”, in The Monthly Review; or Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume LVII, London: Sold by T[homas] Becket, bookseller, in Pall Mall, →OCLC, page 372

   Well, what do you think I'll give you? Why, fourteen kisses, and that's a baker's dozen you know; and so no more at present, from yours till I'm married, […] [I]n the disposal of her baker's dozens, she is admonished not to be profuse; and, moveover, not to be any body's till she is married, not even her well-wisher's.

   [1823 July 5, “The Petition of a Baker’s Daughter”, in The Adventurer of the Nineteenth Century, volume XIII, London: Printed for Knight and Lacey. And sold by Henry Holloway, →OCLC, page 196, column 2

   When some half dozen of bakers' dozens of constables are to be created, is it not very tiresome that a magistrate shall sit in an easy arm chair, in a snug room, and before a roaring fire, whilst the oath is read to each, and whilst each kisses the book, until the moisture of their breath has saturated with damp, the sheep or calf skin in which the book is packed up? There is something very tedious and unpleasant in all this, and great praise is due to the steward of Squire Screw, for having invented the means by which such annoying forms may be set aside.

   [1839], chapter I, in The Factory Lad. Or, The Life of Simon Smike; Exemplifying the Horrors of White Slavery, London: Printed and published by Thomas White, 59, Wych Street, Strand, →OCLC, page 10, column 1

   Synonyms: devil's dozen, long dozen

2. CockneyslangA cousin.

   "Before I agree to help you and your baker's dozen over there …" Rose nodded at Larry. / "It means cousin," Larry said. / "Before I say yes to helping, I would like a low-risk, up-front agreement."

   2015 February, Kevin Sylvester, Neil Flambé and the Bard’s Banquet (Neil Flambé Capers; 5), 1st paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 65

1. uncountablecard gamesA solitaire card game, starting with 13 piles of 4 cards each.