HALF A DOZEN

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does half a dozen mean? 

• HALF A DOZEN (noun)
  The noun HALF A DOZEN has 1 sense:

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one

  Familiarity information: HALF A DOZEN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HALF A DOZEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The cardinal number that is the sum of five and one

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

6; Captain Hicks; half a dozen; hexad; sestet; sextet; sextuplet; sise; six; sixer; VI

Hypernyms ("half a dozen" is a kind of...):

digit; figure (one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration)

 Context examples 

Before he got very far along in the art of the storiette, Martin worked out half a dozen stock forms, which he always consulted when constructing storiettes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Half a dozen men were about the man who crouched in the centre of the dying fire.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Lord Avon turned them over with trembling fingers, and then picking up half a dozen, he brought them to my uncle.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then, leaving Joyce to guard them—one man, to be sure, but with half a dozen muskets—Hunter and I returned to the jolly-boat and loaded ourselves once more.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You don't mean to say you have forgotten that you promised to make half a dozen calls with me today?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“I could very easily give you half a dozen,” said Holmes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Half a dozen tins will do.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Half a dozen natural children, perhaps—and poor Frank cut off!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The results peg 2007 OR10 as the largest unnamed world in our solar system and the third largest of the current roster of about half a dozen dwarf planets.

(2007 OR10: Largest Unnamed World in the Solar System, NASA)

Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris have half a dozen good horses, well appointed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)