Noun

(dozens)

(countable) A set of twelve.

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.

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.

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

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

*{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=Lee A. Groat , title=Gemstones , volume=100, issue=2, page=128 , magazine=(American Scientist) 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.}}

(metallurgy) An old English measure of ore containing 12 hundredweight.

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

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

Noun

(en noun)

(sciences) A standard measure of a quantity.

The centimetre is a unit of length.

The number one.

This pill provides 500 units of Vitamin E.

An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.

He was a member of a special police unit .

(military, informal) A member of a military organization.

The fifth tank brigade moved in with 20 units .'' (''i.e., 20 tanks )

(US, military) Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organizationJoint Publication 1-02 U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms; 12 April 2001 (As Amended Through 14 April 2006). .

(US, military) An organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force.

(US, military) A standard or basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued or used. In this meaning, also called unit of issue.

(US, military) With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces, denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit. Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units.

(algebra) An element of a ring having a multiplicative inverse. (Formerly just the identity element 1_R of a ring.)

(geology) A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize it.

(commerce) An item which may be sold singly.

We shipped nearly twice as many units this month as last month.

(UK, electricity) One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter).

(Australia, New Zealand) a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household, an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.

(historical) A gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.

(Camden)