Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (also dawg) to pursue, to hunt down (often with sexual intent).

c.1580		‘I.T.’ Grim The Collier of Croydon V i: This two hours I have dogg’d the Parson round About all Croydon, doubtin some such thing.
1592		Arden of Feversham line 2085: Greene and we two, will dogge him through the faire, And stab him in the crowd, and steale away.
1602		Dekker Satiromastix III i: He shall follow you, he shall dog you good.
1616		Jonson Devil is an Ass II iii: I think he has dogg’d me to the house.
1627		G. Peele Merrie Conceited Jests 8: Yonder hard-favoured knave [...] hath dogged me to arrest me.
1633		Massinger Guardian I i: I dogg’d him to the Church.
1640		H. Mill Nights Search I 18: Guilt followes on, and doggs him tow’rd his end.
1657		Marlowe Lascivious Queen II v: Dog them at th’ heels. [Ibid.] V v: Damnation dog thee [...] Furies follow thee .
1663		Dryden Wild Gallant V i: Thus far I have dogged them, and this way I am sure they must pass.
1676		Etherege Man of Mode IV i: Call a Footman! Pert! quickly, I will have him dogg’d.
1681		Otway Soldier’s Fortune III i: I would be sure to be rid of you first, that you might not dog me.
1696		J. Dunton Night-Walker Dec. 21: For his own part, he would not come near her for some days, less the Person that wrote the Letter, or any other should dog him.
1707		Farquhar Beaux’ Strategem V i: I dogged ’em to the very door, and left ’em breaking in.
1718		Proceedings Old Bailey 10 Jan. 4/2: Upon which he dogged them, and found they played the same Game at several Places the same Night.
1722		J. Carrick Account of Robberies 11: To avoid the Mischiefs that might arise from the Porter’s being dogged [...] we left the Inn.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 116: He [...] made it his Business to dog the Parson Home after Church.
1756		J. Cox Narrative of Thief-takers, alias Thief-makers 63: I saw four Fellows at the end of the Square, and they dogged me.
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1794		W. Godwin Caleb Williams (1966) 260: He dogged her from street to street.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) I 116: The father ordered me to dog the son.
1829		‘The Recent Murders’ in Henderson Victorian Street Ballads (1937) 27: Next as a wife who came to town / in search of her dear son, / Was by these wicked wretches dogg’d / And barbarously undone.
1832		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 1 n.p.: Do us the favour to caution one of No. 5’s members, who makes a practice of dogging ladies on Broadway.
1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods III 42: Five Indians, a detachment and rearguard, as it proved, of the very party he was dogging [,...] stole upon him unawares and made him a prisoner.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 28 May n.p.: What was the object of several young bloods in dogging a decent girl.
1846		Thackeray Diary of C. Jeames de la Pluche in Works III (1898) 419: Do you mean to say, sir, that you have dogged me all the way from London.
1851		Melville Moby Dick (1907) 86: I was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really dogging us or not.
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 3/2: [A]t last the poor old gentleman couldn’t stir out without Bill dogging him in this way.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 60/1: The Doctor [...] took every occasion to make it an unpleasant job for those who had to dog him.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 597: Dog plays a very prominent part in American slang, from the verb to dog, in the sense of following a person like a bloodhound, to doggery, a grogshop.
1883		‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 307: You are being dogged; within five days both of you will be assassinated.
1890		Sporting Times 1 Feb. 2/2: Dull disappointment dogged me on my way.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 23 July 1/1: Debtor-dogging is one of the most profitable industries in Jarrahland.
1908		‘The Great Bond Robbery’ in Roberts et al. Old Sleuth’s Freaky Female Detectives (1990) 63/1: You have been dogged and ‘piped’ for weeks as the thief.
1919		‘Sax Rohmer’ Dope 217: Someone was persistently and cleverly dogging his fotsteps.
1926		Lucille Hegamin ‘Here Comes Malinda’ 🎵 And how she dogs ’em round, / She’s sure a ritzy hound, / When she’s out for air, / Makes ’em stop and stare.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks n.p.: Dog: to follow or watch.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 67: I’ll dawg thaht moongrel bawstid off face yearth I will.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 138: Feasting time was over and Joe Famine [...] took to dogging us around.
1956		Billie Holiday Lady Sings the Blues (1975) 92: A lot of creeps have been dogging Orson Welles ever since.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 52: He will spring to the task of dogging Wilbert’s footsteps.
1972		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Whoreson 203: Each drink I took convinced me that it was my right to dog her.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 108: Keith dogged her with his eyes, revising his catalogue of her physical deficiencies.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 149: Exactly the sort I dont want dogging my heels.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 102: Hope ain’t what catches bad men [...] You just dawg ’em down, whatever it takes.
2008		in J. Miller Getting Played 54: ‘Like an older person come through and they'll see a young girl walking through. She can have a pretty shape, pretty face or whatever, and they'll see her and they'll try to dog’.

(b) (US Und.) to follow; thus dog on, to make someone follow someone else.

1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 311: There are them three chaps, there, been dogging me about for the last half-hour. I say, Pounce, has anyone been scouting around you this morning?
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 61: When they ‘spot’ a provincial person, or a newly-arrived foreigner, who looks as though it might pay to cultivate his acquaintance, one of the gang will ‘pipe’ or ‘dog’ him, to find out where he puts up.
1886		Sporting Times 24 Apr. 6/1: She roundly taxed her husband with his infidelity. ‘So you’ve been dogging me,’ said he, and struck her.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 21 Apr. 4/6: 16,000 unemployed roaming through the country in a fruitless search for work (and not infrequently ‘dogged’ and watched by the police as well).
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Sept. 15/1: ’E’s dogged on me. ’Im, Cripple Jim, / What orks termaters like a Chow!
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 190/1: Dogging. Being followed.

(c) (US) to stare at, to glance unpleasantly at.

1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 153: ‘Islema! Ogda the opperca!’ which in slang is ‘Misle! Dog the copper!’ otherwise — ‘Vanish! See the policeman!’.
1896		‘Thieves’ Sl.’ Gent.’s Mag. CCLXXXI Oct. 348: ‘Misle, dog the copper’; that is ‘Run, see the policeman’.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 257: Dog the scar on the back of my head? [...] He gimme that.
1973		in C. Browne Body Shop 28: A pretty girl in a short blue skirt [...] Eyes dog her.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 58: How were they dogging him so close.

(a) (orig. UK, later US Und., also dog in) to betray, to inform against.

1607		Dekker & Webster Northward Hoe I i: Hee was dogd in, this is the end of all dycing.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 60/1: Dog it. To exhibit cowardice; to inform under police pressure; to retreat.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] By ‘dogging’ on his mates Mad Dog became an outcast within mainstream population.

(b) (Aus./US) to nag, to harass, to mistreat.

1896		J.C. Harris Sister Jane 102: ‘Don’t cry, sis,’ said the brother. ‘The folks in the house’ll [...] think I’m doggin’ at you.’.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 206: You weemen git a feller sore by doggin’ at him if he bats a lamp.
1919		V.J. Marshall World of Living Dead (1969) 102: It was all part of the ‘snout’ they had ag’in him [...] fer dishin’ a screw [...] They’d been doggin’ him ever since.
1935		‘Big Bill’ Broonzy ‘C & A Blues’ 🎵 Why I done leave you baby ’cause I’m tired of takin’ your doggin’.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 823: With Dessie ’buking and dogging me all the time.
1971		(con. 1930s–50s) D. Wells Night People 117: Dog. To hurt or distress.
1985		G. Tate Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 36: That’s how bad the industry was dogging us on that tour.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 162: I bet you dog niggahs out on the job every chance you get.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 [...] v 1. to criticize or annoy. [...] (‘Quit dogging me.’).

(c) to pester, to irritate.

1902		Bulletin Reciter 1880–1901 77: It haunts me in the midnight dark and dreary, / It dogs me at the dawn and close of day.
1965		T.B. Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 94: dog. To shirk, lie, pester, run away.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 [...] v 1 . to criticize or annoy. Also dog on . (‘Quit dogging me.’ or ‘Quit dogging on me.’).

(d) (US) to lie, to deceive.

1938		J.H. Warner ‘A Word List From Southeast Arkansas’ in AS XIII:1 5: dog, v.i. To tell a lie. ‘I’m not dogging.’.
1965		Tom Burns Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 94: dog. To shirk, lie, pester, run away.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 226: I wasn’t dogging the police. I was distracted.

(e) (US) to cheat.

1965

T.B. Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 94: dog. To cheat, inflict damage.

(f) (US black) to abuse, to criticize, to curse, to despise.

1974		D. Goines Daddy Cool (1997) 135: She needed dogging, or so he reasoned. That way, he would be able to control her better.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 42: Deep, dark women got dogged to death.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 169: ‘They dog Andrea so bad. They like, “Bitch, go to the store.” She like “Alright, I be right back”’.
2013		D. Whish-Wilson Zero at the Bone [ebook] He’d know that Bernie wasn’t the dogging kind. But there he was, still shouting abuse.
2019		C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] ‘Don’t talk about my mom, Junie. Don’t say shit about her.’ [...] ‘I’m not dogging on her. I’m complimenting you’.

(g) (US/W.I., also dawg) to taunt, to tease, to mock, to be rude.

1981		Detroit Free Press (MI) 6 July 17/1: dog (she really likes to dog people) — to tease.
1995		Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 13: Dawg to be disrespectful to: u. to dawg someone.

(h) (US black teen) to insult someone in front of their friends.

1993

Source Aug. 52: I’m not doggin’ Stoney Jackson. I respect the brother.

(a) to have sexual intercourse with.

1709		‘Would You Have a Young Virgin’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 209: Try her, and ply her when Cully’s gone / Dog her, and jog her, / And meet her, and treat her, / And kiss with two Guinea’s, and all’s your own.
1833		‘The Fancy’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 8: Try her, and ply her, when cully’s gone; / Dog her, and jog her.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 12: Amatiner (s’). To prostitute oneself to all comers: ‘to dog’.
1991		G. Tate ‘Miles Davis in Memorium’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 87: Miles and Pablo will probably end up sharing a room together in a hell of mirrors being flogged by furies for all the women they dogged.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 206: She was getting fucked by Papo. He was dogging her, and all of us were there looking.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 263: I’m always a little down after dogging some broad.

(b) (also doggy, do the dog) to engage in sexual intercourse with the male using a rear-entry position.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1965		T.B. Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 94: dog. To copulate on all fours. Hence dogways.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 189: Usually they looked at the wall, lunchpails, or had you do the dog.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 dog, doggy v. to have sex; usually vaginal (occ. anal) but effected whilst the female is in a kneeling position. Also seen in the form ‘Doing it doggy fashion’.

(c) (US) to rape.

1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 38: And if you’re a new nigga’ [...] and you’re a fag and you like it and he want to dog you, you get the big black bogeyman and shit.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 17: Nigger, you better come on, Brenda getting dogged up on Seventeenth.

(a) to idle, to shirk work.

1912		Van Loan ‘Little Sunset’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 126: You’re a quitter [...] you dogged it, Gus, you dogged it!
1930		J.A. Russell ‘Colgate University Sl.’ in AS V:3 239: To dog: to avoid, dodge, or evade work or studies. ‘He dogged his work whenever possible.’.
1956		‘Ed Lacy’ Men from the Boys (1967) 62: If I catch you dogging this job I’ll break your back!
1965		T.B. Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 94: dog. To shirk, lie, pester, run away.
1969		Current Sl. III:4 5: Dog, v. To contribute an inadequate performance; to give less than the best.
2004		Simon & Lehane ‘Dead Soldiers’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 3 [TV script] He put down a few good cases, and he dogged a few bad ones.

(b) (UK juv.) to absent oneself from school.

2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 dog (2) v. To ‘dog it’ was to abscond from school for the day – or however long took your fancy. A day would often begin with friends asking each other if they were ‘dogging’ it today. Sometimes people larger than you forced you to dog it with them (just in case anyone thought they were unpopular...) Whilst doing so, you were often chased by a man from the local council education dept. (the ‘dogger man’) who happened to have some advantage over you as you were on foot, and he was in his ‘dogger van’.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 26: [She] had come home drunk a couple of times, was seeing boys, dogging school.

(c) to break an appointment, to stand someone up.

1997–2000

Da Bomb 🌐 9: Dog: [...] 5. To fail to keep a date or appointment.

(d) (US black) to end a relationship.

1999

‘The Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 83: I can’t stand that bitch candy. I’m so glad you dogged her.

(e) (Aus.) to abandon one friend for a new one.

2001

Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.) 6 Jan. n.p.: So here’s a tentative guide to Sydney teenspeak: [...] To dog (ditch friends for someone else).