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Baker’s Dozen

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Thirteen for twelve. When a heavy penalty was inflicted for short weight, bakers used to give a surplus number of loaves, called the inbread, to avoid all risk of incurring the fine. The 13th was the “vantage loaf.”

Mr. Riley (Liber Albus) tells us that the 13th loaf was “the extent of the profit allowed to retail dealers,” and therefore the vantage loaf means, the loaf allowed for profit.

To give one a baker’s dozen, in slang phraseology, is to give him a sound drubbing—i.e. all he deserves and one stroke more.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Bain Marie
Bairam
Baisser
Bait
Bajaderes
Bajulus
Bajura
Baked
Baked Meat
Baker (The)
Baker’s Dozen
Baker’s Knee (A)
Bakshish
Bal
Balaam
Balaam Basket or Box (A)
Balafré
Balai
Balak
Balâm
Balan

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Dozen