dog
Pluraldogs
Pluraldogs
- 1A domesticated mammal, Canis familiaris, bred by humans over thousands of years into a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
The dog waited by the door every evening for its owner to come home.
Working dogs herd sheep, guard property, and assist people with disabilities.
UsageSet phrases: walk the dog, take the dog for a walk.
Note
An everyday word with a low-born start: Old English dogga, of uncertain origin, seems first to have named a common cur rather than a well-bred hound, and perhaps later a stocky one; Scots dug is a cousin. Even the Latin name is unsettled. Some write Canis familiaris, others Canis lupus familiaris, a name that files the dog as a kind of wolf.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Dog derives from Old English dogga/docga, whose origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
- The earliest meaning apparently distinguished a common dog from a well-bred one, with a possible later application to stocky dogs. en.wiktionary.org
- Scots dug is cognate with English dog. en.wiktionary.org
- Both Canis familiaris and Canis lupus familiaris are used as scientific names for the domestic dog. en.wikipedia.org
- Canis lupus familiaris classifies the dog as a wolf subspecies. en.wikipedia.org
- 2A frankfurter or similar sausage, or a sandwich made by serving one in a long bun.
She ordered a chili dog with extra onions at the stand.
The vendor grilled a fresh batch of dogs for the lunch rush.
UsageUsed in food names such as chili dog and corn dog. Dog also stands alone when the food context is clear.
Similarfrankfurter, frank, wiener
Note
A clipping of hot dog, and a busy one in compounds: chili dog, kosher dog, spiced dog. Faye Fiore, reporting in 1994 on Congress and the meat lobby, lists "kosher dogs and spiced dogs" alongside kielbasas and jumbo grillers.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dog functions as a shortened form of hot dog, including in compounds. arnoldzwicky.org
- Faye Fiore published the report in 1994. latimes.com
- Her report concerns Congress and meat-industry lobbying and includes the quoted sausage list. latimes.com
- 3To follow or pursue someone closely and persistently; (of a problem or rumor) to trouble someone continually.
Rumors dogged the actor throughout his entire career.
Photographers continued to dog the family long after the trial ended.
UsageOften passive: dogged by rumors, injury or bad luck.
Similarhound, plague, haunt, trail, pursue
Note
The figurative workhorse of the verb. Trouble, rumor or a flaw dogs someone, sticking like a follower who will not be shaken off. Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) still uses it literally, of a jealous husband who "dogged her to the place." By 2012, American Scientist could describe theories "dogged for decades by infinities."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones, first published in 1749. en.wikisource.org
- The novel uses 'dogged her to the place' for a jealous husband physically following his wife; this is narration. gutenberg.org
- American Scientist published the quoted wording about theories in its January–February 2012 issue, in Michael Riordan's 'Tackling Infinity'. americanscientist.org
- 4Any animal of the family Canidae, living or extinct, such as a domestic dog, wolf, coyote, jackal, or fox.
Coyotes, jackals, and other wild dogs often live close to towns.
Despite its name, the maned wolf is not a true wolf but a long-legged South American dog.
Similarcanid
Note
The zoologist's wide use, stretching the word over the whole family: foxes, jackals, coyotes, and extinct forms too. Larry D. Martin, surveying carnivore fossils in a 1989 volume edited by John L. Gittleman, speaks of a "bone-crushing hunting dog" and a "frugivorous dog" among the fossils.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The volume was first published in 1989. degruyterbrill.com
- John L. Gittleman edited the volume. jstor.org
- Larry D. Martin wrote the volume's survey of carnivore fossils. jstor.org
- The fossil discussion contains both quoted phrases; Wiktionary reproduces them from page 561, within Martin's chapter. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 5A contemptible person regarded as cowardly, worthless, or morally bad.
The villagers branded the informer a dog for selling them out.
Only a dog would steal from the people who trusted him.
UsageCommon in set insults like you dirty dog.
Similarrat, scoundrel, cur, wretch, swine
Note
Contempt with a long pedigree. Robert Greene's "Blasphemous dog" (1599) and the King James Bible of 1611 ("is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?") both use it for someone beneath regard.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Robert Greene's play Alphonsus, King of Arragon contains “Blasphemous dog”, spoken by Amurack to Alphonsus. gutenberg.org
- The Greene quotation dates to the play's first publication in 1599. gutenberg.org
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- The quoted wording occurs in the King James Bible, at 2 Kings 8:13, spoken by Hazael. en.wikisource.org
- Both historical quotations illustrate a derogatory application of dog to a person. en.wiktionary.org
- 6A man or fellow, used informally.
That dog still owes me twenty bucks from last weekend.
You clever dog, I should have known you'd figure it out.
UsageUsually with an adjective when speaking to someone: you lucky dog, you clever dog.
Similarguy, fellow, devil, chap
Note
The noun alone says little, and the modifier decides whether the speaker is envious, admiring or teasing. Compare the contemptuous insult, where dirty dog turns the same pattern into an attack.
- 7Something, such as a product, investment, or film, that performs poorly or fails badly; a flop.
The investment turned into a dog within the first year.
Reviewers warned that the laptop was a dog under heavy use.
UsageOften be a dog or a dog of a (film, car, etc.).
Similarflop, dud, lemon, turkey, failure
Note
Anything that underperforms can be a dog: a car, an investment, a gadget. The idea of a debased version is old. Robert H. Codrington's The Melanesian Languages (1885) speaks of "dog-Mota" and "dog-Fiji," hyphenated before the noun, for degraded forms of those languages.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Robert H. Codrington wrote The Melanesian Languages. openlibrary.org
- The book was originally published in 1885, rather than that being a later reprint date. openlibrary.org
- Codrington used the hyphenated forms dog-Mota and dog-Fiji for inferior versions of those languages, supporting the historical observation. en.wiktionary.org
- 8The competitor or side considered least likely to win; the underdog of a contest or wager.
The bookmakers listed the rookie as a heavy dog going into the fight.
Sharp bettors took the dog and the points, and the home team's upset win paid them handsomely.
Oppositefavorite
Note
Betting talk, in sports as well as cards, for the side the odds are against: underdog with the under clipped off. It describes the hand or player less likely to win, and it pairs naturally with words of degree, as in a heavy dog. Do not confuse it with the "poor performer" use. A dog here may play perfectly well and still be the one the numbers disfavor.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The betting term dog is a shortening of underdog. en.wikipedia.org
- 9The flesh of dogs eaten as food.
Certain cuisines once prized dog as a delicacy for special occasions.
The market no longer sells dog after the new law took effect.
UsageUsed like lamb or chicken: people eat dog, with no a and no plural; a dog means the animal.
- 10A male canine: a male dog, wolf, or fox, rather than a female.
Both the dog and the bitch come from working lines.
During the breeding season the dog ranges farther than the vixen.
Note
Breeders and hunters need a word for the male, and they pair it with bitch for dogs and vixen for foxes. Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928) has a scratch pack of "dog-hounds," and show writing of 1908 faults a male's head as "too much upon the bitchy order."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Siegfried Sassoon wrote Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, first published in 1928. en.wikipedia.org
- The book describes a scratch pack consisting mostly of dog-hounds. en.wiktionary.org
- Show writing published in 1908 criticizes a male dog's head using the quoted wording; Wiktionary identifies the source as Dogdom, volume 9, page 337. en.wiktionary.org
- 11Any of various mechanical devices that grip, hold, or fasten something, such as a clamp, a pawl that stops a ratchet, or a spike securing a rail.
The carpenter set a dog into the bench to clamp the board.
The hatch dogs sealed the compartment tightly against water.
Note
The workshop family of the word starts here: anything that grips with a tooth. A chainsaw's dogs are the spikes on its body, used as a pivot against the trunk, and a dog set into a bench clamps a board. The image is a set of jaws that bite and hold, which is why the same word secures a ship's hatch.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The mechanical uses evoke a dog's biting and holding. en.wikipedia.org
- Chainsaw dogs are spikes mounted on the saw's body. progressivetraining.com.au
- Chainsaw dogs provide a pivot against the tree. en.wiktionary.org
- A bench dog helps clamp a wooden workpiece. en.wikipedia.org
- Dogs secure ships' hatches. en.wikipedia.org
- 12A derogatory term for a girl or woman regarded as dull and unattractive.
Behind her back the boys sneered that she was a dog.
He called his date a dog, and everyone at the table winced at the cruelty.
UsageA cruel insult about looks, as in a real dog. Learn to recognize it, not to use it.
- 13To criticize or speak badly of someone.
Commentators dogged the quarterback for throwing three interceptions.
They never miss a chance to dog the new manager.
UsageOften used with on (dog on someone) or a direct object; in formal writing, use criticize.
Similarcriticize, knock, slam, trash, diss
Oppositepraise, compliment
Note
Slang fault-finding that will take a person or a thing as its object. In JAG (1999), Harm asks, "Are you dogging Harm's special meatless meatloaf?" It suits teasing put-downs and sports talk alike, as when commentators dog a quarterback.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The quoted JAG episode aired in 1999: “Shakedown” first aired on March 30, 1999. en.wikipedia.org
- Harm says the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
- 14To deliberately make less effort than you could, at work or in sport, usually in the phrase dog it.
If you dog it on the night shift, the foreman will notice by morning.
He dogged it during the inventory count, stretching a two-hour job across the whole day.
UsageUsually the fixed phrase dog it. Without it, dogging can be heard as the sexual sense.
Note
Calculated idleness, often in the fixed form dog it: a surprise inspection catches workers dogging it. Soldier and goldbrick name the same habit of doing the least that goes unpunished, and all three carry a note of disapproval from whoever is paying.
- 15A foot or toe, in slang use.
After standing all shift, his dogs were sore and swollen.
He kicked off his shoes to rest his blistered dogs.
UsageSet phrase: my dogs are barking, said when your feet hurt after a long day.
Similarfoot
- 16Of inferior quality; markedly bad or poorly made.
UsageUsed with no article: the game is dog, often absolutely dog. With a, it is the noun: the game is a dog.
Similarlousy, awful, terrible, rubbish, garbage
Note
A different word from the animal altogether: a clipping of dogshit, which explains its force.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The adjective has a separate immediate derivation from the animal noun: it is a clipping of dogshit. en.wiktionary.org
- 17To watch or take part in sexual activity carried out in a public place.
Groups arrange online to go dogging at remote rest stops late at night.
Locals complained that strangers were dogging in the parking area.
UsageMostly met as dogging or go dogging. It is sexual, so take care using dogging casually.
Note
The Onion Book of Known Knowledge (2012) builds a joke on lightning showing onlookers "who's dogging in the bushes."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The Onion Book of Known Knowledge was first published in 2012. en.wikipedia.org
- The book jokes that lightning reveals who's dogging in the bushes; the quoted wording is accurate. en.wiktionary.org
- 18A metal support that holds logs in a fireplace.
One leg of the old iron dog had snapped, so the logs kept rolling onto the hearth.
A pair of iron dogs held the logs up off the hearth so the fire could breathe.
UsageUsually plural: a pair of iron dogs; also called firedogs or andirons.
Note
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) sets a log fire crackling "behind the high iron dogs," a pleasing echo in a novel about a hound.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, whose first book edition appeared in 1902. en.wikisource.org
- The novel describes a crackling log fire behind the high iron dogs; the quotation is exact. gutenberg.org
- 19To secure a hatch firmly shut, typically by tightening the clamps that hold it against its frame.
Crew members dog the hatches whenever heavy weather is forecast.
He spun the wheel to dog the watertight door shut.
UsageOften dog down: dog down the hatches.
Similarsecure, fasten, seal, clamp
Note
The verb comes straight from the gripping device: the clamps on a watertight hatch are themselves called dogs, so to dog a hatch is to put its dogs to work.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The securing devices on hatches are called dogs. en.wikipedia.org
- Dogging a hatch involves securing it with its dogs. data.ntsb.gov
- 20A man who behaves in a sexually aggressive, predatory way toward others.
Among his coworkers he had a reputation as a dog, forever propositioning the interns.
She dismissed him as just another dog prowling the club.
Similarlecher, womanizer, wolf, lech
Note
Slang with a warning attached. Calling a man a dog in this way says his sexual appetite makes him untrustworthy. The 2005 track "Stay Fly" puts it bluntly, calling DJ Paul one and warning that he is not to be trusted. Context separates it from the matey "fellow" use. There the word is a nudge; here it is a verdict.
- 21A telephone or cell phone.
Get him on the dog and ask whether he's still coming.
I was stuck on the dog with the bank for nearly an hour.
UsageUsually on the dog: get him on the dog, stuck on the dog for an hour.
Note
Cockney rhyming slang at work. Phone rhymes with bone, the phrase becomes dog and bone, and then the rhyming half is dropped, leaving dog. That last step is what makes rhyming slang opaque to outsiders.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dog and bone is Cockney rhyming slang for telephone, based on the rhyme between phone and bone. mhs.ox.ac.uk
- Dog meaning phone derives from dog and bone by dropping the rhyming portion. en.wiktionary.org
- Dropping the rhyming portion makes rhyming slang difficult for outsiders to interpret. en.wikipedia.org
- 22The cock, or hammer, of a firearm; the part that falls to fire the charge.
Note
A gunsmith's word from the age of flint. The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia describes the snaplance as giving motion to "the dog, or cock," with a steel "frizel" set above the pan to take the flint's strike. Cock is the term that stayed in use.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dog denoted the cock of a firearm, including a flint-operated firearm. en.wiktionary.org
- The encyclopaedia describes the snaplance as giving motion to a part called 'the dog, or cock'. en.wiktionary.org
- The same passage calls the steel plate above the pan a frizel and says it receives the action of the flint. en.wiktionary.org
- 23A dance briefly popular in the 1960s whose steps imitated the movements of a dog.
- 24One of the cones used to mark out sections of a racetrack during horse training.
- 25To share a period of watch duty by dividing it with a comrade.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Inherited from Middle English 'dogge', from Old English 'dogga' or 'docga', of uncertain origin. It seems to have first meant a common or stocky dog rather than a well-bred one; there are several theories about its ultimate root, but none is certain. In the 14th century 'hound' was the general word for dogs and 'dog' named a mastiff-like type, but by the 16th century 'dog' had become the general term.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Dog is inherited from Middle English dogge, from Old English docga or dogga. en.wiktionary.org
- The ultimate origin is uncertain, with several unproven theories. en.wiktionary.org
- The earliest meaning may have distinguished common or stocky dogs from well-bred dogs. en.wiktionary.org
- Several theories exist about the ultimate root, without certainty. en.wiktionary.org
- In the 14th century, hound was the general term and dog denoted a mastiff-like type. en.wiktionary.org
- Dog had become the general term by the 16th century. en.wiktionary.org
A clipping of 'dogshit'.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The slang adjective dog, meaning very bad, is a clipping of dogshit. en.wiktionary.org