doze

Etymology 1

From Middle English *dosen, from Old Norse dúsa (“to doze, rest, remain quiet”), from Proto-Germanic *dusāną (“to be dizzy”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰews- (“to fly, whirl”), from *dʰew- (“to fly, shake, reek, steam, smolder”). Cognate with Old Frisian dusia (“to be dizzy”), German Low German dösen (“to doze”), German dösen (“to doze”), Danish døse (“to doze”), dialectal Swedish dusa (“to doze, slumber”), Icelandic dúsa (“to doze”), Old English dysiġ (“foolish, stupid”), Scots dosnit (“stunned, stupefied”), Icelandic dúra (“to nap, slumber”), also compare Dutch doezelen (“to doze”). More at dizzy.

verb

  1. (intransitive) To sleep lightly or briefly; to nap, snooze.
    I didn’t sleep very well, but I think I may have dozed a bit.
  2. (transitive) To make dull; to stupefy.
    I was an hour […] in casting up about twenty sums, being dozed with much work. 1666, Samuel Pepys, diary dated 13 October, 1666
    October 29, 1693, Robert South, a sermon preached at Christ-church in Oxford before the university They left for a long time (as it were) dozed and benumbed.
  3. (intransitive, slang) To bulldoze.

noun

  1. A light, short sleep or nap.
    I felt much better after a short doze.
    Others who conscientiously attended the Technical College at night often drooped over their desks in a doze, and one does not wonder at it. 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 285

Etymology 2

det

  1. Pronunciation spelling of those.
    Donald Duck: I'll give you $20 for those old license plates on your fence posts! Other man: Hah? No chance! I bought dis house 'cause it has dis address! It's me lucky number! […] It was me prison number at Leavenworst and de winning number in de weekly parole lottery! I wudn't never sell doze plates! 1987, Don Rosa, Recalled Wreck

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