doze

views updated May 29 2018

doze / dōz/ • v. [intr.] sleep lightly: he found his mother dozing by the fire. ∎  (doze off) fall lightly asleep: I dozed off for a few seconds.• n. [in sing.] a short light sleep.ORIGIN: mid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘stupefy, bewilder, or make drowsy’): perhaps related to Danish døse ‘make drowsy.’

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

doze

views updated May 21 2018

doze †stupefy, muddle, perplex; sleep drowsily. XVII. perh. of Scand. orig. cf. Da. døse drowse, etc.
Hence doze sb. XVIII.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

More From encyclopedia.com

About this article

doze

All Sources -
Updated Aug 08 2016 About encyclopedia.com content Print Topic