Douzeper
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 One of the legendary “twelve peers” or renowned warriors of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Romans from 800 to 814. historical, in-plural, rare
"Also kynge Charlemayne kynge of Fraunce / With his dyssypers Rowland and Olyuer / With all the resydue of his alyaunce / That in all armes so noble were / On goddys ennemyes brake many a spere / Causynge them to flee to theyr grete vylony / Hardynes was cause that they had vyctory"
- 2 One of the twelve nobles granted feudal territories or episcopal sees by the King of France in return for their fealty (namely the Archbishop-Duke of Rheims; the Bishop-Dukes of Laon and Langres; the Bishop-Counts of Beauvais, Chalons, and Noyon, the Dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, and Aquitaine; and the Counts of Toulouse, Flanders and Champagne). broadly, historical, in-plural, rare
"And whan the realme of Frãce was fallen to him [Charles IV of France], he was crowned by the assent of the twelve dowspiers of Fraunce; and thã, bicause they wold nat that the realme of Frãce shulde be long without an heyre male, they aduysed by their counsell, that the kyng shulde be remaryed agayne, and so he was to the doughter of the Emperour Henry of Lucenbourg, […]"
- 3 A person considered to be like or in the model of Charlemagne’s peers; someone considered a great hero or paladin. broadly, in-plural, rare
"Big looking like a doughty Doucepere, / At laſt he thus, Thou clod of vileſt clay, / I pardon yield, and that with rudenes beare; […]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Also kynge Charlemayne kynge of Fraunce / With his dyssypers Rowland and Olyuer / With all the resydue of his alyaunce / That in all armes so noble were / On goddys ennemyes brake many a spere / Causynge them to flee to theyr grete vylony / Hardynes was cause that they had vyctory"
Etymology
From Middle English dosse per, dousse-per (“one of Charlemagne’s twelve peers or paladins; one of the twelve great peers of France at later times; a famous knight or noble”) [and other forms], treated as a singular form of dosse pers, dousse pers [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman, Middle French douse pers, douze pers [and other forms], and Old French douze pers, doze pers, duze pers (“Charlemagne’s twelve peers; twelve great peers of France at later times”) [and other forms] (also in the singular forms doze per, duze per, and in Anglo-Norman and Middle French written with a Roman numeral as XII pers), from doze, douze (“twelve”) (modern French douze) + pers (plural of per (“peer”); modern French pair). Doze is derived from Latin duodecim (“twelve”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + decem (“ten”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”)); per is derived from Latin pār (“equal; like”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.