Dozen vs Cozen - What's the difference?
dozen | cozen |
(countable) A set of twelve.
A 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.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
, author=Lee A. Groat
, title=Gemstones
, volume=100, issue=2, page=128
, magazine=(American Scientist)
(metallurgy) An old English measure of ore containing 12 hundredweight.
* 1957 , H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry , p. 139
(archaic) To cheat; to defraud; to beguile; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way.
* 1602 , , Act III, Scene 2,
* , 1851, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor , Volume 1,
* 1866 , Spoils, By a Receiver'', Charles Chauncey Burr (editor), ''The Old Guard: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Principles of 1776 and 1787 , Volume 4,
* 1914 , , The Gates of Doom , 2001,
As a noun dozen
is (countable) a set of twelve.As a verb cozen is
(archaic) to cheat; to defraud; to beguile; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way.dozen
English
Noun
(dozens)- Can I have a dozen eggs, please?
- I ordered two dozen doughnuts.
- There shouldn't be more than two dozen Christmas cards left to write.
- Pack the shirts in dozens , please.
- There must have been dozens of examples just on the first page.
- There were dozens''' and '''dozens of applicants before the job was posted.
citation, passage=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.}}
- The dozen as a measure for iron ore remained almost completely constant at 12 cwts. during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Synonyms
* a great deal of, a lot of, heaps of, hundreds of, loads of, lots of, many, millions of, scores of, scads of, thousands ofAntonyms
* fewDerived terms
(terms derived from dozen) * baker's dozen * banker's dozen * Botany Bay dozen * cheaper by the dozen * daily dozen * dime a dozen * double dozen * doz (abbreviation ) * dozenal * dozenth * half dozen * long dozen * nineteen to the dozen * * twenty to the dozenSee also
* grossAnagrams
* * English nouns with irregular plurals ----cozen
English
Verb
(en verb)- What devil was't / That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
page 895,
- It is certain that children may be cozened into goodness, and sick men to health, and passengers in a storm into safety; and the reason of these is, — because not only the end is fair, and charitable, and just, but the means are such which do no injury to the persons which are to receive benefit;.
page 497,
- The man, too, who has been matrimonially cozened''''', "would all the world might be '''cozened'''," for he has been '''cozened''', and beaten too; but with him the cudgel is "hallowed;" he would "hang it o'er the altar;" perhaps for the reason given by the "Merry Wives of Windsor," because "it hath done meritorious service;" and no sooner is he, by a seemingly merciful disposition of Providence, released from the cudgeler, but he is in haste to be ' cozened and beaten again.
page 217,
- But that you should have been cozened' with me, that my ' cozening should in part have been a natural sequel to your own, rather than an independent error of mine, is a helpful reflection to me in this dark hour.
Usage notes
Modern usage is generally to effect a dated style.References
* Webster's New School and Office Dictionary, copyright 1962 *"cozen"on Online Etymology Dictionary
