Etimology
From Middle English dogge (akin to Scots dug), from Old English dogga, docga, of uncertain origin. The original meaning seems to have been a common dog, as opposed to a well-bred one, or something like 'cur', and perhaps later came to be used for stocky dogs. Possibly a pet-form diminutive with suffix -ga (compare frocga (“frog”), *picga (“pig”)), appended to a base *dog-, *doc- of unclear origin and meaning. One possibility is Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”) (compare frocga from frox). Another proposal is that it derives from Proto-West Germanic *dugan (“to be suitable”), the origin of Old English dugan (“to be good, worthy, useful”), English dow, German taugen. The theory goes that it could have been an epithet for dogs, commonly used by children, meaning "good/useful animal.". Another is that it is related to *docce (“stock, muscle”), from Proto-West Germanic *dokkā (“round mass, ball, muscle, doll”), whence English dock (“stumpy tail”). In 14th-century England, hound (from Old English hund) was the general word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype resembling the modern mastiff and bulldog. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, and hound had begun to refer only to breeds used for hunting. In the 16th century, the word dog was adopted by several continental European languages as their word for mastiff. Despite similarities in forms and meaning, not related to Mbabaram dog.
noun
dog (countable and uncountable, plural dogs)
A mammal of the family Canidae:
(uncountable) The meat of this animal, eaten as food.
A person:
A mechanical device or support:
(cartomancy) The eighteenth Lenormand card.
A hot dog: a frankfurter, wiener, or similar sausage; or a sandwich made from this.
(poker slang) An underdog.
(slang, chiefly in the plural) Foot.
(Cockney rhyming slang) (from "dog and bone") Phone or mobile phone.
One of the cones used to divide up a racetrack when training horses.
(informal) Something that performs poorly.
(firearms, archaic) A cock, as of a gun.
(preceded by definite article) A dance having a brief vogue in the 1960s in which the actions of a dog were mimicked.
Examples
The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.
The dog barked all night long.
This includes the development of hyena-like bone crushers , a large bone-crushing hunting dog , and another borophagine frugivorous dog .
Entirely disregarding sex, Ch. Searchlight has a beautiful Cocker head, but as he is a dog, his head is too fine and far too much upon the bitchy order.
Firstly, he was there to encourage and assist the hounds […]
Did you know that they eat dog in South Korea?
She’s a real dog.
You lucky dog!
Come back and fight, you dogs!
You dirty dog.
Blasphemous dog, I wonder that the earth / Doth cease from renting vnderneath thy feete, / To swallow vp those cankred corpes of thine.
And Hazael ſaid, But what, is thy ſeruant a dogge, that he ſhould doe this great thing?
[A]t last Mahomed's stood straight up upon its vertebræ, and glared at me through its empty eyeholes, and cursed me with its grinning jaws, because I, a dog of a Christian, disturbed the last sleep of a true believer.
DJ Paul is a dog; one you do not trust.
Whenever possible, let the tree support the weight of the chainsaw. Pivot the saw, using the saw's dogs as a fulcrum.
Synonyms: click, pallet, pawl, ratchet
The dogs were too hot to touch.
In the great old-fashioned fireplace behind the high iron dogs a log-fire crackled and snapped.
Alternative form: 'dog
Congressmen gleefully wolfed down every imaginable version of the hot dog – smoked kielbasas, jumbo grillers, Big & Juicy's, kosher dogs and spiced dogs […]
My dogs are barking! ― My feet hurt!
My dog is dead.My mobile-phone battery has run out of charge and is no longer able to function.
My mobile-phone battery has run out of charge and is no longer able to function.
He gives his dog-Mota or dog-Fiji in exchange for Pigeon English.
That modification turned his Dodge hemi into a dog.
Blue was released, and as Redford had predicted, it was a dog.
"When The Alamo was coming out, the word of mouth on it was that it was a dog," Chase said.
To this succeeded the Snaplance [sic], in which a motion was given to the dog, or cock, and a movable plate of steel, called the frizel, or hammer, was placed vertically above the pan to receive the action of the flint.
Hmm, see the girl with the red dress onShe can do the dog all night long.
Just like the dog but not so low Like the hully gully but not so slow Now baby swim, baby do the swim.
We had a lovely dance—luckily it was a slow number. I don't think Mr. Lincoln would have been up to the dog or a fast twist.
Related words
synonyms
(animal): taxonomic names: Canis familiaris, Canis domesticus, Canis familiarus domesticus, Canis canis, Canis aegyptius, Canis familiarus aegyptius, Canis melitaeus, Canis familiarus melitaeus, Canis molossus, Canis familiarus molossus, Canis saultor, Canis familiaris saultor
(animal): domestic dog, hound, canine; see also Thesaurus:dog
(male): stud, sire
(meat): dogflesh, dog meat, fragrant meat
(man): bloke (British), chap (British), dude, fellow, guy, man; see also Thesaurus:man
(morally reprehensible person): cad, bounder, blackguard, fool, hound, heel, scoundrel
(mechanical device): click, detent, pawl
(metal support for logs): andiron, fire dog, dogiron
hypernyms
(animal): canid, quadruped
hyponyms
(animal):
coordinate terms
(male adult dog): bitch, pup, puppy
verb
dog (third-person singular simple present dogs, present participle dogging, simple past and past participle dogged)
(transitive) To pursue with the intent to catch.
(transitive) To follow in an annoying or harassing way.
(transitive, nautical) To fasten a hatch securely.
(intransitive, emerging usage in British) To watch, or participate, in sexual activity in a public place.
(intransitive, transitive) To intentionally restrict one's productivity as employee; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.
(transitive, slang) To criticize.
(transitive, military) To divide (a watch) with a comrade.
Examples
Synonyms: chase, chase after, go after, pursue, tag, tail, track, trail
The woman cursed him so that trouble would dog his every step.
[…] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant.
Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.
But this is not an Athletic that ever looks comfortable at the back – a criticism that has often dogged Marcelo Bielsa's sides.
Yet Google, which was founded in 1998, is dogged by the perception that its best days are behind it.
It is very important to dog down these hatches.
I admit that I like to dog at my local country park.
Lightning [is a] burst of charged particles that lights up the sky and allows onlookers to see who's dogging in the bushes without using a flashlight.
Synonyms: soldier, goldbrick
A surprise inspection of the night shift found that some workers were dogging it.
Harmon Rabb : Are you dogging Harm's special meatless meatloaf? Sarah MacKenzie : Let's put it this way. If you were to make the Harmon Special on this ship, they'd have to unload it with the toxic waste.
A. We never stood 4 to 8 p.m. watches, sir. We dogged our watches.Q. I suppose that is 6 to 8 p.m., then; it is a little indistinct. I mean the second dog watch.
Meanwhile, we dogged the watch sections so that both halves of the crew could fetch full sea bags of uniforms and gear […]
Etimology
Clipping of dogshit.
adjective
dog (not comparable)
(slang) Of inferior quality; dogshit.