dozen

plural dozens · alternative doz

1. A set of twelve.

   I ordered two dozen doughnuts.

   4 more examples

   Can I have a dozen eggs, please?

   There are hundreds of people from each continent in the convention but only a few dozen came from Africa.

   Pack the shirts in dozens, please.

   Almost three dozen US service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries after the Iranian missile attack earlier this month, the Pentagon said Friday.

   2020 January 26, Leah Asmelash, “Why traumatic brain injuries can be dangerous”, in CNN

2. always followed by ofA large, unspecified number of, comfortably estimated in small multiples of twelve, thus generally implied to be significantly more than ten or twelve, but less than perhaps one or two hundred; many.

   There must have been dozens of examples just on the first page.

   3 more examples

   There were dozens and dozens of applicants before the job was posted.

   Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

   2012 March 28, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128

   Jessalyn, known to her family as Jessa, was one of the dozens who were hit.

   2022 October 26, Christina Zdanowicz, Claudia Dominguez, Lauren M. Johnson and Sara Smart, “The Waukesha victims included an 8-year-old boy, a loving grandmother and a woman excited to make her debut in the Dancing Grannies”, in CNN

   Synonyms: a great deal of

3. engineeringAn old English measure of ore containing 12 hundredweight.

   The dozen as a measure for iron ore remained almost completely constant at 12 cwts. during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

   1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 139

4. bingoThe number twelve.

plural dozens · alternative doz

1. derogatorySouth Korean idol fandomA member of a K-pop group who has no talent.