doozy

English

Alternative forms

• doozie, duesey, duesy

Etymology

Unknown. First appearance 1903. Perhaps from daisy (“the flower”) (Rudyard Kipling used daisy in this sense) or the name of Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The automobile manufacturer Duesenberg is often erroneously cited as the origin, but the word existed more than a decade earlier. Alternatively, possibly from Polish duży, but this is chronologically unlikely and not attested in period sources.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈduːzi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːzi

Noun

doozy (plural doozies)

1. (US, colloquial) Something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense.

   Synonym: lulu

   Most of the test was easy, but the last question was a doozy.

   • 2017, Eric A Meyer, Estelle Weyl, CSS: The Definitive Guide: Visual Presentation for the Web, Kindle edition, O'Reilly Media, page 126:

     Like the em unit, the rem unit is based on declared font size. The difference — and it’s a doozy — is that whereas em is calculated using the font size of the element to which it’s applied, rem is always calculated using the root element.

Translations

something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense

• French: c’est quelque chose
• German: Prachtexemplar (de) n, starkes Stück n, Hammer (de) m
• Russian: засада (ru) f (zasada)
• Spanish: primor (es) m (positive), maravilla (es) f

Adjective

doozy (not generally comparable, comparative doozier, superlative dooziest)

1. (US, slang, dated) Of high quality; remarkable; excellent. [1903]
   • 1903, Alfred Leon Kleberg, Slang Fables from Afar, page 83:

     As soon as the races were billed he began to evolve Schemes — one Doozy scheme followed the other...

   • 2011, “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:

     The hydra wasn't the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozier than that?

2. (US, slang, dated) Sporty, ostentatious, flashy. [1911]
   • 1917, Elsie Warnock, “Terms of approbation and eulogy in American dialect speech”, in Dialect Notes, volume IV, page 21:

     Who was that doozy fellow I saw you with?

   • 1920, Jane Barrett, “English review”, in High School Life, volume 21, page 531:

     Sweetie, do let me show you the dooziest little afternoon frock that Poiret designed for me in Paris.

Translations

extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense

• Czech: praštěný (cs)
• German: bemerkenswert (de), extraordinär, außergewöhnlich (de)
• Spanish: extraordinario (es)

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Doozy”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
• "Doozy" in J.E. Lighter, Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang volume 1, 1994.