Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The cardinal number equal to the sum of 11 + 1.
- n. The twelfth in a set or sequence.
- n. Bible The twelve original disciples of Jesus.
- n. Bible The books of the Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- One more than eleven; twice six, or three times four: a cardinal numeral.
- n. The number made up of ten and two; a dozen.
- n. A symbol representing this number, as 12, XII, or xii.
- n. plural Same as duodecimo.
Wiktionary
- n. The cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.
- n. A group of twelve items.
- n. A twelve-bore gun.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. One more that eleven; two and ten; twice six; a dozen.
- n. The number next following eleven; the sum of ten and two, or of twice six; twelve units or objects; a dozen.
- n. A symbol representing twelve units, as 12, or xii.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
- adj. denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old English twelf, from Proto-Germanic *twalif, an old compound of *twa- (“two”) and *-lif (“left over”), from Proto-Indo-European *leikw- (“leave, remain”). Compare West Frisian tolve, Dutch twaalf, German zwölf, Danish tolf, Norwegian tolv. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English twelf; see dwo- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The authority which the Apostles in this way enjoyed, did not, in any great measure, rest on the remembrance of direct services which the twelve had rendered to the Gentile Churches: for, as the want of reliable concrete traditions proves, no such services had been rendered, at least not by the _twelve_.”
“Under the compartments, and immediately above the cornice, are twelve medallions, which were to represent the _twelve months of the year_, characterized by the different occupations peculiar to them: eight only are executed, and these are the months of summer, autumn, and winter.”
“In the state of the writer, California, one man in twelve is an avowed and registered revolutionist.”
“The world number two won the title twelve months ago with a dramatic five sets final over Roger Federer and is looking to recapture that form after a troubled second half of 2009.”
“Torture a dozen in case one of the twelve is a terrorist.”
Feinstein Issues Statement on Torture - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
“Mr. ASTATQE: (unintelligible) is very Ethiopian, and what you have, actually, combined is the harmonic stretches, what we call the twelve-tone musical stretches because our musical instruments hasn't reached to that stage, so I have actually to use pianos or guitars to actually combine three - to five-tone scales.”
“Then you cut that log and you have what you call a twelve foot log.”
“Our twelve apostles -- that is what we called our twelve boxes -- were lifted in and tied firmly into place.”
“What seemed to have struck the Amerrycan most, was what he described as the twelve most bewtifool Angels, all most bewtifoolly drest, in most bewtifool close, a playing most bewtifool toons on most bewtifool”
“Mr. Gracewood has what he calls a twelve-pounder.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘twelve’.
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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EN - Glasgow stop list
Words to be replaced by a paragraph mark if you are after terms and MWEs.
yours, yourself, yet, your, without, you, within, will, yourselves, would, why, with and 291 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Stellar Six-Letter Words
I've been meaning to make this list for at least a year, to go with Really Cool Two-Letter Words, Three-Letter Words, Four-Letter Words, Slightly Less Cool Four-Letter Words, and Five-Letter Words....
degust, tattoo, quahog, anoxia, acetic, rugose, bathos, umlaut, mohawk, python, harbor, panzer and 78 more...
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Number words
A list of some words for numbers (mostly cardinal numbers, but a few other important ones that have short descriptions).
aleph-one, aleph-null, infinity, googolplex, googol, trillion, billion, myllion, million, myriad, great gross, thousand and 43 more...
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My Words are Numbered
Names of numbers.
zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven and 61 more...
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AlanaMM07's list
Tweets
Looking for tweets for twelve.
mollusque Worth twelve points in Scrabble. Apr 13, 2009