Dictionary

short dozen en · NOUN

Etymology

For the sense "ten", compare the relationship of one "short hundred" (100) to one "long hundred" (120). For the sense "eleven", contrast a "long dozen" (13).

Meanings

1. Ten.
   • Speaking of marketing, Willard, along with apparently many standard growers across the country, recently went to the "short dozen" mum count. He packs ten flowers, not twelve, markets them at the same price as the old dozen. 1976, Grower Talks, volume 39, page 22:
   • Ten women are considered by Mr. Rogers, of various nationalities and from various social strata […]. Inez Montez, Irish by birth but Spanish by choice and adding for years to the color of the California Gold Coast, makes up the tenth of this short dozen of Gallant Ladies. 1928, Commonweal, volume 8, page 397:
2. Eleven.
   • Written on the Wind is a terrifying book, at least for a reviewer, because it consists of a short dozen (eleven) of personal […] 1976, Jeremy Addis, Books Ireland, numbers 1-19, page 180:
   • Mrs. Van Slyke has chosen as her special field of interest the Syrian quarter of Brooklyn, and the result of her observations she has given us in a short dozen of stories, grouped under the title, Eve's Other Children. 1913, Mary Bannister Willard, The Survey: social, charitable, civic: a journal of constructive philanthropy, volume 30, page 147:
   • Our short dozen of Aristophanic dramas may be taken to represent the fittest among the hundreds of other comedies which have perished. 1898, Aristophanes. I. The Acharnians. II. The knights. III. The clouds, page x:

Forms