What it means
Dozy is a very British way to call someone a bit sleepy, vague, slow to notice what's right in front of them, or gently daft in the moment. It's usually soft banter, not a savage insult. You'd say it when someone's wandering about with half their brain still under the duvet and doing silly little things without clocking it.
Usage examples
"I was being dozy and missed my stop because I was staring out the window."
"You dozy thing, you have put your jumper on inside out again."
"Don't be so dozy, your glasses were on your head the whole time."
"He's a bit dozy before his morning coffee, so don't ask him anything important yet."
"I was proper dozy this morning and tried to unlock the front door with my car key."
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Where it comes from
Dozy comes from the older English word doze, meaning to sleep lightly or be half asleep. That sense grew into the adjective dozy in the late 18th and 19th centuries, first for someone sleepy or drowsy, then more loosely for someone vague, woolly headed, or a bit slow in the moment.
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