Definition of "dog"

dog¹

/dɒɡ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural dogs
1. A mammal of the family Canidae:
  1. The species Canis familiaris (sometimes designated Canis lupus familiaris), domesticated for thousands of years and of highly variable appearance because of human breeding.
    Quotations
    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.
    1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
    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.
    1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎
  2. Any member of the family Canidae, including domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, foxes, and their relatives (extant and extinct); canid.
    Quotations
    This includes the development of hyena-like bone crushers (Osteoborus and Borophagus), a large bone-crushing hunting dog (Aelurodon), and another borophagine frugivorous dog (Carpocyon).
    1989, John L. Gittleman, Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution, page 561
  3. (often attributive) A male dog, wolf, or fox, as opposed to a bitch or vixen.
    Quotations
    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.
    1908, Dogdom, volume 9, page 337, column 1
    Firstly, he was there to encourage and assist the hounds (a scratch pack – mostly dog-hounds drafted from fox-hound kennels because they were over-sized) […]
    1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 149
2. (uncountable) The meat of this animal, eaten as food.
3. A person:
  1. (slang, derogatory) A dull, unattractive girl or woman.
  2. (slang) A man, guy, chap.
  3. (derogatory) Someone who is cowardly, worthless, or morally reprehensible.
    Quotations
    Blasphemous dog, I wonder that the earth / Doth cease from renting vnderneath thy feete, / To swallow vp those cankred corpes of thine.
    1599, Robert Greene, Alphonsus, King of Aragon, act 3
    And Hazael ſaid, But what, is thy ſeruant a dogge, that he ſhould doe this great thing?
    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Kings 8:13, column 1
    [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.
    1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887
  4. (slang) A sexually aggressive man.
    Quotations
    DJ Paul is a dog; one you do not trust.
    2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown‎, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG), Sony BMG
4. A mechanical device or support:
  1. Any of various mechanical devices for holding, gripping, or fastening something, particularly with a tooth-like projection.
    Quotations
    Whenever possible, let the tree support the weight of the chainsaw. Pivot the saw, using the saw's dogs (spikes) as a fulcrum.
    2009, ForestWorks, Chainsaw Operator's Manual, page 41
  2. A click or pallet adapted to engage the teeth of a ratchet wheel, to restrain the back action.
  3. A metal support for logs in a fireplace.
    Quotations
    In the great old-fashioned fireplace behind the high iron dogs a log-fire crackled and snapped.
    1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
  4. (transport, historical) A double-ended side spike driven through a hole in the flange of a rail on a tramway.
5. (cartomancy) The eighteenth Lenormand card.
6. A hot dog: a frankfurter, wiener, or similar sausage; or a sandwich made from this.
  Quotations
  Congressmen gleefully wolfed down every imaginable version of the hot dog – smoked kielbasas, jumbo grillers, Big & Juicy's, kosher dogs and spiced dogs […]
  1994 July 21, Faye Fiore, “Congress relishes another franking privilege: Meat lobby puts on the dog with exclusive luncheon for lawmakers – experts on pork”, in Los Angeles Times‎
7. (poker slang) An underdog.
8. (slang, chiefly in the plural) Foot.
9. (Cockney rhyming slang) (from "dog and bone") Phone or mobile phone.
10. One of the cones used to divide up a racetrack when training horses.
11. (informal) Something that performs poorly.
  Quotations
  He gives his dog-Mota or dog-Fiji in exchange for Pigeon English.
  1885, Robert H. Codrington, The Melanesian Languages, page 143
  1. (film) A flop; a film that performs poorly at the box office.
    Quotations
    Blue was released, and as Redford had predicted, it was a dog.
    1969, Ski, volume 34, number 4, page 121
    "When The Alamo was coming out, the word of mouth on it was that it was a dog," Chase said.
    2012, Ronald L. Davis, Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne
12. (firearms, archaic) A cock, as of a gun.
  Quotations
  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.
  1832, The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, volume 10, page 164
13. (preceded by definite article) A dance having a brief vogue in the 1960s in which the actions of a dog were mimicked.
  Quotations
  Hmm, see the girl with the red dress onShe can do the dog all night long.
  1964, “What'd I Say”, Ray Charles (lyrics), performed by Elvis Presley
  Just like the dog but not so low Like the hully gully but not so slow Now baby swim, baby do the swim.
  1964, “C'mon And Swim”, Thomas Coman and Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone) (lyrics), performed by Bobby Freeman
verb
third-person singular simple present dogs, present participle dogging, simple past and past participle dogged
1. (transitive) To pursue with the intent to catch.
2. (transitive) To follow in an annoying or harassing way.
  Quotations
  […] 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.
  1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […]
  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.
  2012 January, Michael Riordan, “Tackling Infinity”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 30 April 2013, page 86
  But this is not an Athletic that ever looks comfortable at the back – a criticism that has often dogged Marcelo Bielsa's sides.
  2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian‎
  Yet Google, which was founded in 1998, is dogged by the perception that its best days are behind it.
  2021 June 21, Daisuke Wakabayashi, “Google Executives See Cracks in Their Company’s Success”, in The New York Times‎
3. (transitive, nautical) To fasten a hatch securely.
4. (intransitive, emerging usage in Britain) To watch, or participate, in sexual activity in a public place.
  Quotations
  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.
  2012, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, page 118
5. (intransitive, transitive) To intentionally restrict one's productivity as employee; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.
6. (transitive, slang) To criticize.
  Quotations
  Harmon Rabb (David James Elliott): Are you dogging Harm's special meatless meatloaf? Sarah MacKenzie (Catherine Bell): 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.
  1999 March 30, “Shakedown”, in JAG, season 4, episode 18, via CBS
7. (transitive, military) To divide (a watch) with a comrade.
  Quotations
  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.
  1902, Winfield Scott Schley, Record of Proceedings of a Court of Inquiry
  Meanwhile, we dogged the watch sections so that both halves of the crew could fetch full sea bags of uniforms and gear […]
  2015, Tom Vetter, 30,000 Leagues Undersea

dog²

/dɒɡ/

adjective
not comparable
1. (slang) Of inferior quality; dogshit.

Definition of "dog"

dog1

noun

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verb

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dog2

adjective

dog¹

dog²