Word.ws English Dictionary

douzeper

Syllables: douze·per/ˈduːz.pɛː/US/ˈduzˌpɛəɹ/

douzeper noun: one of the legendary “twelve peers” or renowned warriors of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Romans from 800 to 814.

Noun

douzeper (plural douzepers)

  1. (historical, in plural, rare) One of the legendary “twelve peers” or renowned warriors of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Romans from 800 to 814.
    • 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[1504?], Stephyn Hawys [i.e., Stephen Hawes], chapter VII, in […] The Example of Vertu, [London]: [Wynkyn de Worde], →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 May 2021, signature cc.vi, verso
    • [T]hou art one of the Douze peers already, and fate has forestalled our intended promotion. Yet rise up, sweet Sir Oliver Thatchpate, Knight of the honourable order of the Pumpkin—Rise up, in the name of Nonsense, and begone about thine own concerns, in the devil’s name.1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London...
  2. (broadly, historical, in plural, rare) 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).
    • 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...1523, John Froissart, “Howe Phylypp of Ualois was Crowned Kyng of Fraunce”, in John Bourchier, Lord Berners [i.e., John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners], transl., Sir John Froissart’s Chronicles of...
    • The Frenche kyng that ſucceded his father at the kalendes of Aprill, the .xxv. day of July, cometh to Rains to be crowned. […] After reſorte to the churche thoſe that are called the Douzeperes of Fraunce, which are twelue in nomber. The Byſhop of Rains, Landune, Langres, Beauuois, Noion and...1560, [Johannes Sleidanus], “The Nyntenth Booke of Sleidanes Commentaryes, Concerning the State of Religion, and the Common Weale, during the Reigne of the Empyre of Charles the Fyfte”, in Ihon Daus...
    Synonyms:
    paladin
  3. (broadly, in plural, rare) A person considered to be like or in the model of Charlemagne’s peers; someone considered a great hero or paladin.
    • Big looking like a doughty Doucepere, / At laſt he thus, Thou clod of vileſt clay, / I pardon yield, and that with rudenes beare; […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31, page 551
    • And tho that beare bowes in their hond / Of the precious laurer ſo notable, / Be ſuch as were I woll ye vnderſtond, / Noble knights of the round table, / And eke the douſeperis honourable, / Which they bare in the ſigne of victory, / It is witnes of their dedes mightily.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Floure and the Leafe. As it was Written by Geffrey Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 636

Examples of douzeper in a sentence

  • Ferumbras, despising Oliver’s youthful appearance, tries to frighten him[…]; asks him to describe Charles [i.e., Charlemagne] and the douzeperes[…]; and enquires his name[…].1879, “Sketch of the Story of ‘Sir Ferumbras’”, in Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editor, Sir Ferumbras. Edited from the Unique Paper Ms....
  • Cortine, Corteyne, or Cortayn was the name given to the sword of Ogier, one of the celebrated Douzeperes of Charlemagne.1883, [Robert Hunter], “*cūr-têin, *cūr-tā′-na”, in The Encyclopædic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference to All the Words in...
  • The knights of the Round Table and the douzepers were closely associated by virtue of the juxtaposition of Arthur and Charlemagne in the Nine Worthies.1962, “Notes”, in D[erek] A[lbert] Pearsall, editor, The Floure and the Leafe and The Assembly of Ladies (Old and Middle English Texts...
  • Roland defiantly accepts the post of danger; the douzepers and other knights join him.1967, J[onathan] Burke Seyers, editor, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500. […], New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut Academy of...

Synonyms of douzeper

Forms of douzeper

pluraldouzepers
alternative formdouzepeer
alternative formdoucepere
alternative formdouzepere

Origin of douzeper

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”).

Questions about douzeper

What does douzeper mean?
Douzeper means one of the legendary “twelve peers” or renowned warriors of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Romans from 800 to 814.
How do you use douzeper in a sentence?
Ferumbras, despising Oliver’s youthful appearance, tries to frighten him[…]; asks him to describe Charles [i.e., Charlemagne] and the douzeperes[…]; and enquires his name[…].
What part of speech is douzeper?
Douzeper is a noun.
How do you pronounce douzeper?
Douzeper is pronounced /ˈduːz.pɛː/ (UK).
What is the plural of douzeper?
The plural of douzeper is douzepers.

Words near douzeper in the dictionary

  1. douzaines
  2. douzenier
  3. douzeniers
  4. douzepeer
  5. douzepeers
  6. douzeper
  7. douzepere
  8. douzeperes
  9. douzepers
  10. Dov
  11. DOVAP

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: douzeper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-douzeper.wav.

Cite this entry: “douzeper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/douzeper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.