Unknown. First appearance 1903. Perhaps from daisy (“the flower”) (Rudyard Kipling used daisy in this sense) or the name of Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The automobile manufacturer Duesenberg is often erroneously cited as the origin, but the word existed more than a decade earlier. Alternatively, possibly from Polish duży, but this is chronologically unlikely and not attested in period sources.
Meanings
(US, dated, not-comparable, slang, usually) Of high quality; remarkable; excellent.
As soon as the races were billed he began to evolve Schemes — one Doozy scheme followed the other... 1903, Alfred Leon Kleberg, Slang Fables from Afar, page 83:
The hydra wasn't the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozier than that? 2011, “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
Sweetie, do let me show you the dooziest little afternoon frock that Poiret designed for me in Paris. 1920, Jane Barrett, “English review”, in High School Life, volume 21, page 531:
Who was that doozy fellow I saw you with? 1917, Elsie Warnock, “Terms of approbation and eulogy in American dialect speech”, in Dialect Notes, volume IV, page 21:
Forms
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doozie
alternative
lexicographic
duesy
alternative
lexicographic
doozier
Degree=Cmp
lexicographic
duesey
alternative
lexicographic
dooziest
Degree=Sup
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doozer
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lexicographic
Translations (5)
cs praštěný (extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · de außergewöhnlich (extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · de extraordinär (extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · de bemerkenswert (extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es menudo (extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense)
Unknown. First appearance 1903. Perhaps from daisy (“the flower”) (Rudyard Kipling used daisy in this sense) or the name of Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The automobile manufacturer Duesenberg is often erroneously cited as the origin, but the word existed more than a decade earlier. Alternatively, possibly from Polish duży, but this is chronologically unlikely and not attested in period sources.
Meanings
(US, colloquial) Something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense.
"Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?"
It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. 1961, Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction:
Most of the test was easy, but the last question was a doozy.
Like the em unit, the rem unit is based on declared font size. The difference — and it’s a doozy — is that whereas em is calculated using the font size of the element to which it’s applied, rem is always calculated using the root element. 2017, Eric A Meyer, Estelle Weyl, CSS: The Definitive Guide: Visual Presentation for the Web, Kindle edition, O'Reilly Media, page 126:
es ser la repera (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es asuntejo (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · de starkes Stück (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es ser la reoca (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es maravilla (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · ru засада (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es menuda situación (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es menuda cosa (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · de Hammer (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es asuntillo (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · de Prachtexemplar (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · fr c'est quelque chose (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense) · es primor (something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense)