doozy

Meanings

1. Something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense.

1. Of high quality; remarkable; excellent.
2. Sporty, ostentatious, flashy.

Etymology

Unknown. First appearance 1903. Perhaps from daisy (“the flower”) (Rudyard Kipling used daisy in this sense) or the name of Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The automobile manufacturer Duesenberg is often erroneously cited as the origin, but the word existed more than a decade earlier. Alternatively, possibly from Polish duży, but this is chronologically unlikely and not attested in period sources.