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HALF A DOZEN
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The cardinal number that is the sum of five and one
Synonyms:
6; Captain Hicks; half a dozen; hexad; sestet; sextet; sextuplet; sise; six; sixer; VI
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("half a dozen" is a kind of...):
digit; figure (one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration)
Context examples:
“If you are afraid of half a dozen speeches,” cried Mr. Rushworth, “what would you do with such a part as mine? I have forty-two to learn.”
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Behind the thrones there stood two men in purple gowns, with ascetic, clean-shaven faces, and half a dozen other high dignitaries and office-holders of Aquitaine.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This morning, as I sat watching the wan countenance of my friend—his eyes half closed and his limbs hanging listlessly—I was roused by half a dozen of the sailors, who demanded admission into the cabin.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
But no living man had looted this treasure house, and the dead were dead; wherefore John Thornton and Pete and Hans, with Buck and half a dozen other dogs, faced into the East on an unknown trail to achieve where men and dogs as good as themselves had failed.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Their increasing attachment was not to be satisfied with half a dozen turns in the pump-room, but required, when they all quitted it together, that Miss Thorpe should accompany Miss Morland to the very door of Mr. Allen's house; and that they should there part with a most affectionate and lengthened shake of hands, after learning, to their mutual relief, that they should see each other across the theatre at night, and say their prayers in the same chapel the next morning.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Then there is another note in the Morning Post to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it would be at St. George’s, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Besides the usual deformities in extreme old age, they acquired an additional ghastliness, in proportion to their number of years, which is not to be described; and among half a dozen, I soon distinguished which was the eldest, although there was not above a century or two between them.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
During those several weeks he saw Ruth half a dozen times, and each time was an added inspiration.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
She was not more than half a dozen feet away sitting in the snow and wistfully regarding him.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
It was he who ordered his valet to put half a dozen of sherry by his bed and call him the day after to-morrow.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
