short dozen

English

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).

Noun

short dozen (plural short dozens)

1. Ten.
   • 1928, Commonweal, volume 8, page 397:

     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.

   • 1976, Grower Talks, volume 39, page 22:

     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.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:short dozen.
2. Eleven.
   • 1898, Aristophanes. I. The Acharnians. II. The knights. III. The clouds, page x:

     Our short dozen of Aristophanic dramas may be taken to represent the fittest among the hundreds of other comedies which have perished.

   • 1913, Mary Bannister Willard, The Survey: social, charitable, civic: a journal of constructive philanthropy, volume 30, page 147:

     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.

   • 1976, Jeremy Addis, Books Ireland, numbers 1-19, page 180:

     Written on the Wind is a terrifying book, at least for a reviewer, because it consists of a short dozen (eleven) of personal […]