Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, mainly teen) to steal another person’s girlfriend, to break up a school or college romance.

1941		‘Gloss. of Army Sl.’ in AS XVI:3 163/2: Bird dogging. Lower classman dancing with upper classman’s girl (Flying Cadets).
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: bird dogging . . . dancing with a superior’s girl.
1946		F. Eikel Jr ‘An Aggie Vocab. of Sl.’ in AS XXI:1 31/1: bird dog [...] vit. To be a bird dog.
1957		P. Moore Chocolates for Breakfast 226: Stop bird-dogging my date.
1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 170: To take one’s partner from him in the middle of a dance: bird dog [...] To break up a campus romance: to bird dog.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 186: When I turned around she was dancing with someone else. It seemed as if every time I turned my head I got bird-dogged.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 54: And look, Miller’s bird-dogging your quail.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hollywood Fuck Pad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 248: The cocksucker cheated on my mom [...] then bird-dogged half my bitches.

2. to pimp for, to solicit for another person.

1988

J. Ellroy Big Nowhere 26: He met Howard Hughes and started bird-dogging for him, picking up star-struck farm girls.

3. to hang around in the hope of making a pick-up, either for sex or commercial gain.

1949		AS Feb. 36: Bird dog [...] to follow closely.
1958		J. Blake letter 31 March in Joint (1972) 115: Nobody even guessed my distress, even the hardnoses who were bird-dogging me.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 93: Old Preston was back out there bird-dogging suckers.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 174: They birddogged her sweet and breathy with promises and presents.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 97: If this perverse inverse ratio continued widening, he’d be birddogging playgrounds.

4. to observe, to lie in wait.

1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 59: He whistled, waved. The old wino bird-dogged the street. Again Richie whistled, motioned him over.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 254: Who I have bird-dogged for over thirty years.

5. to follow, to perform surveillance.

1975		L. Dills CB Slanguage 12: Bird-Doggin’: following closely behind another vehicle.
1985		T. Clancy Hunt for Red October 60: Who’s bird-doggin’ him for you.
1999		J. Ellroy ‘My Life as a Creep’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 126: I [...] tailed women from the Versailles. They walked to work. I bird-dogged them.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 611: Stanton’s cab cut south. Pete’s cab bird-dogged it. Pete’s cab stuck two car lengths back.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 246: I myself saw him bird-dogging the parking lot.

6. to watch over, to protect.

1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 35: You ain’t gonna get the chance to play for Sue, the air tight way Ross bird dogs her.
1981		(con. 1966) P. Conroy Lords of Discipline 270: They know that you’re bird-dogging Pearce for me?

7. (US prison) to eavesdrop.

2002

J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 171: So when some wood suggests I stop bird-dogging his conversation (eavesdropping — one of my many character flaws) [...] I respect their wishes.

8. (US) to send in a direction.

2013

T. Dorsey Riptide Ultra-Glide 60: It bird-dogs me straight to my pickin’ of guilt-free heists.