At Nineteen to the Dozen?

When someone talks nineteen to the dozen, he/she speaks very fast without stopping. ... A steam engine that was running or going 'nineteen to the dozen' was pumping out 1900 gallons of water while burning only 12 bushels of coal. How is the word 'profligate' pronounced?

Where does the saying 19 to the dozen come from?

While the exact origin of the phrase is unknown, it is often traced back to the Cornish beam engines of the Newcomen era in the 18th century. These engines could pump 19,000 gallons from a tin mile. All this from just 12 bushels of coal. In speech, the phrase means someone who talks too fast or too much.

What is the meaning of 20 dozen?

Filters. (idiomatic) Very fast, fluently (i.e. "to say twenty words to another's dozen") He can talk French twenty to the dozen. adverb.