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Mar 15, 2007

This week's theme
Words related to the number 13 to mark the thirteenth anniversary of Wordsmith.org

This week's words
tridecennary
triskaidekaphobia
bakers dozen
rondeau
trecento

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baker's dozen

noun: A group of 13. Also known as a long dozen.

From the fact that bakers often gave an extra item when selling a dozen of something to safeguard against being penalized for light weight.

"Mr. Blodget, the Merrill Lynch Internet stock analyst, stopped covering the stocks of four more dot-com companies last week, reducing his universe, which once comprised more than 20 companies, to a mere baker's dozen."
Patrick McGeehan; The Shifting Fortunes Of a Prognosticator; The New York Times; Jul 1, 2001.

See more usage examples of baker's dozen in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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