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What is "a baker's dozen"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
A baker's dozen

Baker \Bak"er\, n. [AS. b[ae]cere. See Bake, v. t.]

  1. One whose business it is to bake bread, biscuit, etc.

  2. A portable oven in which baking is done. [U.S.]

    A baker's dozen, thirteen.

    Baker foot, a distorted foot. [Obs.]
    --Jer. Taylor.

    Baker's itch, a rash on the back of the hand, caused by the irritating properties of yeast.

    Baker's salt, the subcarbonate of ammonia, sometimes used instead of soda, in making bread.

A baker's dozen

Dozen \Doz"en\ (d[u^]z"'n), n.; pl. Dozen (before another noun), Dozens (d[u^]z"'nz). [OE. doseine, dosein, OF. doseine, F. douzaine, fr. douze twelve, fr. L. duodecim; duo two + decem ten. See Two, Ten, and cf. Duodecimal.]

  1. A collection of twelve objects; a tale or set of twelve; with or without of before the substantive which follows. ``Some six or seven dozen of Scots.'' ``A dozen of shirts to your back.'' ``A dozen sons.'' ``Half a dozen friends.''
    --Shak.

  2. An indefinite small number.
    --Milton.

    A baker's dozen, thirteen; -- called also a long dozen.

Usage examples of "a baker's dozen".

Yeltsin is always two rolls short of a baker's dozen, and no one knows what to expect from Vladimir Putin.

I checked a baker's dozen before I found one that needed a dishwasher.

If they come back-or a fresh gang, I don't care-I'm going to get us a baker's dozen.

While none of them knows any of the others, they do know that there should only be a baker's dozen of them.

In her present mood and frame of mind, he was bedamned if he was going to leave Krystal Foster nee Kent in command of a baker's dozen of the savage, conscienceless galloglaiches who would consider her wish to be their commission to wreak any barbarity that came into her head, simply because she happened to be the wife of their chosen warleader, Bass Foster.