Meaning

5 senses
  1. A group of twelve items.

    Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.

  2. A twelve-bore gun.

  3. (colloquial)A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).

  4. (slang)The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.

  5. (slang)Front (front side of something, position in front of something).

    watch your twelve

    For quotations using this term, see Citations:twelve.

More definitions
  • the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one

Examples

340 sentences
  1. I spent twelve hours on the train.

    Я провів у потязі дванадцять годин.

    ruЯ был в поезде двенадцать часов.

    deIch habe zwölf Stunden im Zug verbracht.

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  2. There are twelve months in a year.

    В році дванадцять місяців.

    ruВ году двенадцать месяцев.

    deEin Jahr hat zwölf Monate.

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  3. They have twelve children.

    Вони мають дванадцятьох дітей.

    ruУ них двенадцать детей.

    deSie haben zwölf Kinder.

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  4. She has just turned twelve.

    Їй щойно виповнилося дванадцять.

    ruЕй только что исполнилось 12.

    deSie ist gerade zwölf geworden.

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  5. I could swim across the river when I was twelve.

    Я зміг перепливти через річку, коли мені було дванадцять.

    ruЯ смог переплыть реку, когда мне было двенадцать.

    deAls ich zwölf war, konnte ich über den Fluss schwimmen.

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Origin

From Middle English twelve, from Old English twelf (“twelve”), from Proto-Germanic *twalif

From Middle English twelve, from Old English twelf (“twelve”), from Proto-Germanic *twalif, an old compound of *twa- (“two”) and *-lif (“left over”) (i.e., two left over after having already counted to ten), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, remain”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tweelf, tweelif, tweelich (“twelve”), West Frisian tolve (“twelve”), Dutch twaalf (“twelve”), German Low German twalf, twalv (“twelve”), German zwölf (“twelve”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tolv (“twelve”), Icelandic tólf (“twelve”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: twelves
Singulartwelve
Pluraltwelves

regular

Synonyms

3 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one:12XIIdozen

Word family

2 related words

Collocations

5 patterns
  • twelve years old
  • twelve years
  • twelve hours
  • was twelve years
  • twelve months

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
twelve — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto