A baker’s dozen is a set of thirteen, twelve plus one more. The term baker’s dozen comes from the habit of medieval bakers tossing in an extra loaf of bread called the in-bread or vantage loaf, in orders of a dozen loaves to be sure the order did not come up short by weight. If a baker’s product was light, he had to pay a fine. Bakers were regulated by the trade guild,The Worshipful Company of Bakers, which was formed under the reign of Henry II.
Today, merchants offer a baker’s dozen as a bargain or gesture of goodwill.
Examples
A baker’s dozen of cake-themed songs to get you really excited about the Great British Bake Off (The Irish Examiner)
A baker’s dozen of citizens spoke to the City Council during a Monday night hearing on Comcast that drew fewer than three dozen people. (The Gazette)
“Its sloppy script needs at least a baker’s dozen of rewrites before it’s remotely palatable.” (International Business Times)
Jim DeCastro, 53, is among a baker’s dozen of people selected through the fair’s first-ever “Star-Spangled Challenge” to perform at the annual 12-day fair held in Syracuse. (Newsday)
A quarter-century ago, when most of the baker’s dozen of suspects in the murder of Hoffa were still alive, rumors occasionally wafted over cocktail tables and across bar tops in St. Clair that Hoffa’s body was buried under the north wing of the St. Clair Inn, the 40-room addition built in 1980. (The Voice)
“I naturally have a big appetite,” he continued, demonstrating that fact by tearing into a post-gorge doughnut (to make a baker’s dozen). (Reno Gazette-Journal)
The two examples I wrote about are only a couple of a baker’s dozen of Israeli initiatives, some of which will work out and some of which won’t. (Asia Times)
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