hot dog

Pluralhot dogs

Formshot dogs, hot dogging, hot dogged

1. 1
   in a bunnouncountable

   A frankfurter or wiener, usually served in a long bun, with toppings such as ketchup, mustard, relish, sauerkraut, onions, or cheese.

   At the ballpark we each got a hot dog piled high with mustard and onions.

   The food truck on the corner sells chili cheese hot dogs for five dollars.

   Similarfrankfurter, wiener, frank

   Note

   One name covers both the sausage alone and the dish built around it, and the sentence usually sorts them: you grill hot dogs for the buns, but you order a hot dog at the stand. Ordering one "with everything" asks for every topping on offer, from mustard and relish to onions and sauerkraut.

2. 2
   just the sausagenouncountable

   A sausage, typically a frankfurter.

   Grandpa roasted a hot dog on a stick over the campfire.

   The kids sliced the hot dogs into coins and stirred them into the macaroni.

   Similarfrankfurter, wiener, frank

   Note

   The name began as a grim joke about what the meat was supposedly made of, and it was first recorded in 1884, in the Evansville Daily Courier in Indiana. Frankfurter, frank and wiener name the same sausage more soberly; glizzy and tube steak are the slangy alternatives.

3. 3
   delightinterjection

   Used to express delight or enthusiasm.

   Hot dog! We won front-row tickets to the concert!

   "School's canceled for the snow?" he said. "Hot dog!"

   Similarhooray, yippee, yay, whoopee

   Note

   The exclamation can be sincere or deadpan. In Oren Arnold's The Golden Chair it is private glee ("Hot dog, I said to myself") while the narrator of Robert B. Parker's Hundred-Dollar Baby (2006) says it flatly when nobody offers an alibi, the enthusiasm plainly mock.

4. 4
   daring personnouncountable

   Someone who shows off or takes bold risks, particularly in sports such as surfing, skateboarding, or skiing.

   Some hot dog on a snowboard flew past us and nearly took out the instructor.

   By noon the skate park was full of teenage hot dogs trying to outdo each other.

   Similarshow-off, daredevil, hotshot

5. 5
   perform tricksverbslangintransitive

   To show off one's skill or nerve by attempting a risky or difficult stunt, especially when surfing or playing other sports.

   Skiers who hot dog on crowded slopes put everyone else at risk.

   The young surfer spent the whole afternoon hot dogging for the cameras on the beach.

   Similarshowboat, grandstand

   Note

   Surfers and skiers say it with mixed feelings: the skill is real, but the stunt is done for an audience, and on a crowded slope it shades into recklessness. It takes no object (a skier hot dogs, a surfer spends the afternoon hot dogging) and the person doing it is a hot dog.

6. 6
   long foldnouncolloquialUS

   In US classrooms, describing a sheet of paper folded in half the long way, so that it forms a long rectangle.

   Fold your paper hot dog style and write the vocabulary words down the left side.

   Okay, everybody, fold it hot dog, not the other way, and crease it with your thumb.

   Note

   American elementary teachers use it as classroom shorthand, usually paired with hamburger: a hot dog fold halves the sheet the long way into a tall, narrow strip, while a hamburger fold halves it across into a short, wide one. It mostly works as a modifier, as in fold it hot dog style.

7. 7
   nounNew Zealandcountable

   A sausage or saveloy dipped in batter, deep-fried, and served on a stick; a corn dog.

   We grabbed a hot dog from the fish and chip shop on the drive home.

   At the A&P show the kids wandered around with hot dogs dripping tomato sauce.

   Note

   New Zealanders give the name to a battered, deep-fried sausage or saveloy on a stick, the snack also known as a corn dog. A visitor who orders a hot dog there expecting the sausage in a bun may be handed something quite different, so on a New Zealand menu the place decides the meaning.

8. 8
   penisnounslangvulgarcountable

   The penis.

   "Cover up your hot dog," she laughed when he walked out of the shower.

   The comedian spent half his set making cracks about his own hot dog.

   Similarwilly, wiener, penis

   Note

   The slang rests on the shape of the sausage, and its jokes lean on the bun: "How 'bout I put my hot dog in your bun?" Wiener works the same way, another sausage word doing double duty. The tone is crude and jokey rather than clinical, so it belongs to banter among friends and is best kept out of formal writing and mixed company.

9. 9
   hip movementnounslangvulgarcountable

   A sexually suggestive gesture made by moving the hips.

   Note

   The name belongs to girls' games, where it labels a hip-gyrating move. Kyra D. Gaunt's The Games Black Girls Play (2006) describes how differently it is read: an onlooker may see an imitation of sex, while for the girls doing it the move is simply part of the play. Said by adults about adults, the word is vulgar.

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