Doze

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -əʊz
• Homophones: does, dos, doughs

Origin

From Middle English *dosen, from Old Norse dúsa ("to doze, rest, remain quiet"), from Proto-Germanic *dusēną ("to be dizzy"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewes-, *dʰews- ("to fly, whirl"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- ("to fly, shake, reek, steam, smolder"). Cognate with Icelandic dúsa ("to doze"), Swedish dialectal dusa ("to doze, slumber"), Danish døse ("to doze"), Old English dysiġ ("foolish, stupid"), Scots dosnit ("stunned, stupefied"), Icelandic dúra ("to nap, slumber"). More at dizzy.

Full definition of doze

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sleep lightly or briefly; to nap.I didn’t sleep very well, but I think I may have dozed a bit.
• L'EstrangeIf he happened to doze a little, the jolly cobbler waked him.
2. (transitive) To make dull; to stupefy.
• Samuel PepysI was an hour ... in casting up about twenty sums, being dozed with much work.
• SouthThey left for a long time dozed and benumbed.
3. (intransitive, slang) To bulldoze.

Noun

1. (countable) a light, short sleep or napI felt much better after a short doze.

Synonyms

• See

Derived terms

• dozer
• doze off
• dozy