From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdozendoz‧en /ˈdʌzən/ ●●● S2 W3 number (plural dozen or dozens) (written abbreviation doz.) 1 TMtwelve a dozen eggstwo/three/four etc dozen (=24,36,48 etc) The number of deaths has risen to more than two dozen.dozens of people/companies/cars etc (=but not hundreds or thousands) Dozens of people were killed. Chris, Helen, and half a dozen others went on holiday together. A dozen or so (=about 12) cars were parked near the entrance.2 informalLOT/LARGE NUMBER OR AMOUNT a lot ofa dozen I’ve heard this story a dozen times before.dozens of something She’s had dozens of boyfriends. We collected dozens and dozens of shells on the beach. → baker's dozen, → a dime a dozen at dime(2), → nineteen to the dozen at nineteen(2), → six of one and half a dozen of another at six(4)
Examples from the Corpus
dozen• I had some memorable test drives after buying a dozen 6R4s when they were up for grabs at the factory.• We take two dozen blues and a dozen of their predators, the small green crabs that are never far away.• Prescott, the administration building, looked the same, except that there were a dozen cars parked outside.• There were a dozen feature films made, with filming lasting from one week to four months.• They live, like their ancestors, in packs of a dozen or so.• The mood is relaxed-very advisable if you have a dozen sheep to get through in a day.• Having only one hand, and having that in a dozen things, he has no other to hold out.half a dozen• Sunday night he was wild on at least a half dozen.• Customer-driven systems also allow individuals to meet their needs in a holistic way, without applying to half a dozen different programs.• half a dozen eggs• He found half a dozen fishermen seated under the palm trees at the foot of the Co-operative quay.• I still do half a dozen or so of these scarlet cross-overs a year, to this day.• Inside the cafe there were half a dozen other people.• He had rewritten the story half a dozen times.• Perhaps half a dozen were Hispanic, and the rest, black.• About half a dozen women and children had appeared and were standing, holding hands, watching me.dozens and dozens• They collected dozens and dozens of shells on the beach.From Longman Business Dictionarydozendoz‧en /ˈdʌzən/ written abbreviation doz. noun (plural dozens or dozen) [countable] a group of twelve thingsMore than a dozen managers have come and gone.The extension to a wider base has won them at least half a dozen (=six) valuable new clients.Origin dozen (1200-1300) Old French dozeine, from doze “twelve” 