Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) second-rate.

1929

M. Bodenheim Sixty Seconds 51: It was a cheap, doggish job for anyone with the least brains.

2. (US black) obsessed with sex, lecherous; thus doggishly adv.

[1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 27: For their liues they are dissolute in behauior, Apish, doggish, and Swinish, according to their disposition of ther bodies, flattering in speech, deceitful in words, and in Oathes not a diuell can surpasse them].
1963		A. Baron Lowlife (2001) 71: I didn’t wink at him, or mutter any doggish remarks.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 399: The old no-goodamn doggish husband of mine.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 226: You don’t want to be doggish at a party. You don’t want to rush into things.
1991		W.T. Vollmann Whores for Gloria 51: Funny as the doggishly ugly faces of fortyish transvestite whores pursing their cheeks and loudly wolfwhistling at men.
2010		S. Bundle Extreme Danger 41: God knows, Mr. Big next door beat Justin hands down when it came to doggish lewdness.

(N.Z. prison) territory ‘belonging’ to the Mongrel Mob biker/prison gang.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 58/2: dog city n. a geographical region, prison or area of a prison that is perceived to be Mongrel Mob territory.

(Aus. teen) a blacklist of the excluded.

2004

(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 23/2: The fact that sharps were invariably on the dog-list at mod/long-hair dances didn’t [...] foster good relations.

an unpleasant, aggressive person.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 186: They take d’money and let some dude go in dere and screw all he want to. Dog nigger do dat.

to masturbate.

2002

‘The Rant Archives’ Jan. on Yer Buddy BD’s Place 🌐 I like sex and strippers, pleated skirts and Mary Janes, cheap thrills like skirts on a windy day, bra-less women on a cold day, porn, ‘beating the dog’ and so on.

see put on (the) dog

stimulating a woman’s genitals with one’s fingers.

2000–02

Amatory Ink 🌐.

(Aus.) an abusive term for a young woman.

1979

Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 75: Dog-eat-dog — pronounced ‘doggy-dooog’ which means a daggy girl — a girl wearing too much make-up, a girl who’s too fat or with scraggy hair or just plain ugly.

1. (US) to show off, to strut about.

1928		(con. WWI) H.F. Cruikshank ‘So This Is Flanders!’ Battle Stories July 🌐 Them ol’ No-man’s Land pirates was doin’ the heavy dog on the officer’s fancy smokes.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 231: You can bum a deck of smokes and generally do the dog around the crime scene, maybe piss off another mole?

2. see dog v.¹ (3b)

see put on (the) dog

1. (Aus.) to let down; to betray, to inform against.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 474/2: late C.19–20; by 1960 †.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 88: go dog on To turn nasty on someone. Late C19 ANZ.

2. (Aus.) to act in an overtly sexual manner.

1964

‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 46: ‘Gee, look, there’s some kid going ‘dog’,’ Billie hissed. ‘Isn’t she something?’ The girl was standing about eighteen inches away from the boy, all dressed in black leather, and she was shaking; shaking, quivering and shivering with a frantic side to side, pelvic wiggle.

3. to work as an informer.

2012

D. Whish-Wilson ‘In Savage Freedom’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] My only other choice is to go to Mastic [...] Hope he can protect us. Or go dog for Ogilvie, and hope for the same.

4. (US) to be a coward.

2006

F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 149: He didn’t like it all, but he wasn’t about to go dog.

to give someone a chance to get on with a task.

1953		J. Harris Sea Shall Not Have Them 161: Shift your great carcase and let the dog see the rabbit.
1960		H.E. Bates When the Green Woods Laugh (1985) 144: This was the right time, if ever, to let the dog see the rabbit.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 52: How’s about givin’ a man a fair crack o’ the whip ... let the dog see the rabbit?
1972		T. Stoppard Jumpers Act I: ‘Mind your back!’ ‘Out the way!’ ‘Let the dog see the rabbit!’.
2003		D. Mosey Return of the Wardmaster 326: Now get out both of you, and let the dog see the rabbit.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 23: Stop fuckin about and show the man. Let the dog see the rabbit.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] [H]e needed a bit of space to let the dog see the rabbit.

(US) to lose control of a situation.

1913		Bulletin (SF) 22 Oct. 14/6: ‘Wha’d yu mean yu lost yu dog?’ was asked. ‘No, now, don’t say anything about that.’.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 4: Whatcher mean you lost your dog?

1. unemployed, living as tramp.

1933

G. Milburn ‘A Pretty Cute Little Stunt’ in Brookhouser These Were Our Years (1959) 162: I’m on the dog, just a poor down-and-outer.

2. (Aus. prison) branded as an informer and thereafter ostracized.

1984		B. Ellem Doing Time app C. 223: [V]iolence here doesn’t have to be physical, it may be violence by putting someone on the dog, or verbal threats.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 On the dog. To be identified as an informer and so to be ostracized.

(US) to display oneself sexually, to act in an ostentatiously promiscuous manner.

1969

‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 229: Females sharing a cell would really play dog for the guys across the way.

1. to show off, to put on airs; to do something energetically, noisily; note ad hoc var. in cit. 1901.

1871		L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 44: Dog, style, splurge. To put on dog, is to make a flashy display, to cut a swell.
1894		M.H. Foote Coeur d’Alene 88: The old man puts on a heap o’ dog.
1901		W. Irwin Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum VI n.p.: Rubber, thou scab! Don’t throw on so much spaniel!
1903		A. Adams Log Of A Cowboy 243: Old Joe’s putting on as much dog as though he was asking the Colonel for his daughter.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Nov. 1/1: One blatant upholder of Parliamentary ‘dog’ makes a point of bilking his creditors.
1904		Ade ‘The Fable of the Misdirected Sympathy’ in True Bills 102: The only thing that makes me Sore is to think that all of this Hot Dog you’re throwin’ on comes out of the Pockets of poor, hard-workin’ Guys, such as me.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 25 Dec. 1/1: On a two-ten-a-week screw he puts on dog enough for a duke.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 58: My heavings, I wisht you’d see the dog Smathers an’ Holler puts on.
1905		Sporting Times 15 Apr. 2/3: What ho, with yer ‘Bond Street’! Throwin’ on a heap o’ dog, ain’t yer, Joe?
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 30 Sept. 4/8: Wouldn’t we pile on the pup— / My Kerlonial oath, we would!
1907		‘A Cronk Camp’ Truth (Wellington) 19 Jan. 5: This Dusky Colored Cove put on a considerable amount of ‘dog’.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Dec. 19/2: Most people as come from there goes to a cheap boarding-house, and has their letters addressed to some swell hotel, and calls round there twice a day to buy a drink an’ put on dorg.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 53: She didn’t try to carry any dog; but just blazes ahead and spiels out the talk.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 9 Oct. 5/3: Alice W should not stick on so much dorg [...] even if her mtoher is a retired washerwoman.
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘The Intro’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 19: But strike! The way she piled on dawg! Yer’d think / A bloke was givin’ backchat to the Queen.
1922		E. Dyson Missing Link 🌐 Ch. ii: You could alwiz put on dog. You sold flathead, Jinny, but I give the devil his due – you did it like a duchess.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 52: Red was a great fellow for putting on the dog.
1930		W. Winchell On Broadway 2 Jan. [synd. col.] The lone male escort was putting on plenty of dog, making an impression on his lady friends.
1934		T. Wood Cobbers 102: Cars carry such extravagant cargoes that I believe you might go about this casual friendly land with a puma on the running board, and be accused of nothing worse than ‘putting on dog’.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 164: Well, they’ve got up to a lot of hankey-pankey, you know, worshipping the devil, putting on a lot of dog, and raising the dead and all that caper.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 5: My, my, don’t they put on the dog in – what’s the name of this town again?
1949–51		in M. Daly Profile of Youth 142: It’s silly to dog up a car with signs and coon tails.
1954		B. Appel Sweet Money Girl 64: My supervisor thought Maxie was somebody, the way she was putting on the dog.
1960		P. Rabe Murder Me for Nickels (2004) 29: Jack [...] you don’t have to put on the dog for Mister Stonewall.
1963		G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 160: Melora joins us and has obviously gotten over it, she couldn’t put on more dog.
1972		K. Bonfiglioli Don’t Point That Thing at Me (1991) 133: I did not hesitate. It was time to put on a bit of dog.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 120: Others may sneer at those who put on the dog by getting all dressed up.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 299: Everyone put on the Big Dog.
2010		R. Mihalko Road Kill 27: Oh my God, she’s really putting on the dog tonight. She reserves that bell for special occasions.

2. to have sexual intercourse.

1974

D. Goines Swamp Man 62: He went down to the Wilson’s plantation and put on the dog.

to have sexual intercourse.

1680

Merry Maid of Islington 15: isa.: I have but one doubt. marg.: What may be that I am not a Gentlewoman, you shall know that there’s many a Gentlewoman has stroakt the Dog.

see suck v.¹ (7)

see under suck v.¹

(US) to urinate or to defecate.

1956		C. Himes ‘Naturally, the Negroin Coll. Stories 383: ‘We go too, Kitten, but first I got to water the dog’ Pays went upstairs to the toilette.
1961		C. Himes Pinktoes (1989) 82: Wallace went once more to water the dog.
1988		J. McDonald Dict. of Obscenity etc. 20: Business Shit [...] Other euphemisms comparable in their evasiveness include do one’s duty, take the dog for a walk.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 207: take the dog for a walk To urinate. ANZ.

1. to become an informer, to inform on.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 14/1: The Canadians have ‘turned dog,’ to use an inelegant but expressive vulgarism, upon their pet.
1887		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Oct. 8/1: All the Powers seem to be against [the French], and – last hope of all – Councillor Peterkin [...] ‘turns dog’ on them.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 36: Are you going to turn dog, now that you know the way in?
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Aug. 10/1: O Blessed Interpreter! / Scene – Suburban Police-court / [...] Witness: ‘Why, he meant he’d biff me if I squealed or turned dorg on him.’.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 43: They’ve turned dog on the squatters as trusted ’em.
1903		J. Furphy Such is Life 202: ‘You should be loyal to your employ,’ replied Smythe severely. ‘Meanin’ I shouldn’t turn dog?’.
1911		L. Stone Jonah 45: W’y, y’ain’t goin’ ter turn dawg on me, Jonah, are yez?
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 51: turn dog (vb.) — Deceive [...] betray.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: turn dog. Betray.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 274: Old Sharkey turned dog on us, didn’t he, Bet? Said he’d get me for abduction.

2. to let down, to ‘bite the hand that feeds you’.

1895		Truth (Sydney) 17 Mar. 1/6: We find men, who were returned to secure justice for the poor, ‘turning dog’ on the toilers as soon as they fancy their own interest is in danger.
c.1905		J. Furphy Buln-Buln and the Brolga (1948) 🌐 It makes me shiver to think about turnin’ dog on sich nice people as these is.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Sept. 13/1: You may do everything in the world for a Kanaka – you may even save his life; but he will always turn dog on you sooner or later – generally sooner. If it is later – well, he turns more dog to make up for the delay.
1932		Eve. Post (Wellington) 19 Dec. 19/6: I could go on livin’ [...] for ’nother twenty year’ — o’ course if me old ticker doesn’t turn dog on me.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 248: ‘The push’s broke. That bastard McCann turned dog on us’.
1939		J. Campbell Babe is Wise 95: Turning dog on me, are you, eh, you little Yiddish rotter!

3. to become unkind (and treat someone cruelly).

1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 July 13/3: My husband watched, found me out and kicked me into the street. I appealed singly to the lodgers, but both turned dog, and refused to assist me either with money or advice.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 17 July 3/7: Why has Frank N. turned dog on Sarah D .

4. to abandon, to give up on.

1905

Sun. Times (Perth) 12 Mar. 4/7: He turned dog on his favorite pastime of jumping over balconies and diving through plate-glass saloon doors, and went in instead for establishing records in the matter of smashing up sundry brands of vehicles.

5. to betray; to take a bribe.

1910

Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Oct. 10/3: [T]hey had received 2s. 6d. each to run stiff, and had been entrusted with treasure to the amount of 7s. 6d. with which to stiffen three other footballers. As one of the men who was to turn dog for 2s. 6d. was a crack player, [...] it was felt that the square thing hadn’t been done.

having sexual intercourse in the rear-entry position.

1965		T.B. Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 94: dog. To copulate on all fours. Hence dogways.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 122: The copulation probably should be accomplished in the position variously known as dog fashion, dog-style, or dog-ways.

see blackfellows’ act n.

see separate entries.

a country lout, a male peasant.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Booby, or dog booby, an awkward lout, clodhopper, or country fellow.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1873		Sl. Dict.

one who allegedly has sexual relations with dogs.

2019

M. Herron Joe Country [ebook] ‘Fuck-ups, basket-cases, druggies and drunks [...] When I’ve got a dog-botherer I win a case of cutlery’.

see separate entry.

1. bad breath.

1983		(con. c.1944) Kaplan & Smith One Last Look 89: Others elected to make a different sort of statement. Witness ‘Dog Breath’ [illus. of USAF B-17].
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 120: dogbreath. Bad breath, a.k.a. halitosis.
2004		iVillage.co.uk 🌐 There’s hardly a bigger turn-off than bad breath. [...] So, what can be done to combat dog breath?

2. one who has bad breath; thus an offensive person.

1981		oral testimony in Lighter HDAS I.
2003		Chicago Trib. 10 Aug. 🌐 Hey, dog breath, get outta town [headline] No halitosis allowed in our ’hood — Chicago has a reputation to uphold.

a dog stealer.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Dog Buffers. Dog Stealers, who kill those Dogs not advertised for, sell their Skins, & feed the remaining Dogs with their flesh.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.:
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(Aus.) a police car.

1934		T. Wood Cobbers 144: [footnote] Because the ‘dog-cart’ removes him to a place of detention.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 76: Crikey, this is orright, ridin’ in the dog-cart and in the front, too. If the boys could only see us now, eh, Laurie?

(N.Z.) a form of sausage.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

1. the reversed collar worn by clergymen; thus dog-collared adj.

1861		Temple Bar I 386: He is acquainted with [...] the clerical High-Church nephew who wears a stiff-starched dog-collar instead of a cravat .
1869		W. Bradwood O.V.H. II 169: Choked in a white tie and dog-collar.
1876		Interior Jrnl (Stanford, KY) 4 Aug. 1/5: Wear no perpetual dog-collar [...] Support no scoundrelism.
1883		E.C. Grenville-Murray People I have Met 42: The dog-collar which rose above the black cloth was of spotless purity.
1930		(con. 1910s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 137: I [...] garbed myself in a ‘dog collar’ and silk stock.
1944		C. Fluck ‘Bubbles’ of the Old Kent Road 5: I am no saint. I wear no dog collar or uniform.
1952		C. Harris Death of a Barrow Boy 149: An afternoon at Lords was not much in his line [...] the linen-frocked, the dog-collared and the panama-hatted.
1979		D. Maitland Breaking Out 85: He slowly removed his white dog-collar.
1981		C. Hope Separate Development 83: Splendid in his new, black, clerical walking-out suit and gleaming dog-collar.
1995		A. Higgins Donkey’s Years 149: Whereupon the Razz [...] had torn off his dog-collar, spat on his hands, squared up to the impertinent anti-Christ.

2. a choker necklace.

1890		Daily News 9 June 9/1: Another lady wore [...] a dog collar of pearls and diamonds .
1970		L. Sanders Anderson Tapes 215: Victorian tiaras, bracelets, ‘dog collars,’ headache bands, pins, brooches.

3. (N.Z. prison) a Home Detention bracelet .

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 58/2: dog collar n. a Home Detention bracelet.

a menstrual period.

1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 260: And I like him to sound his aitches [...] and not to get purple in the face when he calls for me in the dog days.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 153/2: dog days the days when a woman is menstruating.
1972		Dahlskog Dict. Contemp. and Colloq. Usage.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 121: If a woman is said to be in her dog days, then she is menstruating. The idea is that she is especially bitchy at this time.

(W.I.) a police officer.

1912		C. McKay Constab Ballads 37: [song title] De Dog-Driver’s Frien’.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 181: Dog driver Policeman, used in an insulting or contemptuous context (West Indian).

1. the last fraction of a cigarette; thus phr. dog-ends on, please give me the last fraction of your cigarette.

1935		M. Harrison Spring in Tartarus 298: He had given up relying on the arduous collecting of ‘dogs’ (as the ends are called), from public highways.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 17: He had no more dog-ends in his pockets.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 198: Dog-ends on you, Paddy.
1965		E. Bond Saved Scene vi: ’Oo’s bin chuckin’ big dog ends? [...] ’Ardly bin lit.
1972		Galton & Simpson ‘The Desperate Hours’ Steptoe and Son [TV script] I’ve got some dog ends you can roll up.
1976		(ref. to1940s) R. Barnes Coronation Cups and Jam Jars 139: I used to put the kettle on, make a cuppa and light one of Mum’s dog ends.
1988		J. Healy Grass Arena (1990) 31: They seemed to be kinky about tobacco and anyone caught with even a dog-end would get a good beating.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 339: He’d screw up the dog-ends and put them in his donkey-jacket pocket.
2000		Guardian G2 13 June 13: Ray eyeing up dog-ends as though there were some answer in their alignment.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 250: My mouth tastes like dog-ends.

2. in fig. use, anything small or insignificant.

1941

G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 186: There is a kind of closet containing a bar scarcely more than three feet long. This dog-end of a space belongs to the group.

illiterate, ungrammatical English; slang.

1858		Stirling Observer 22 Apr. n.p.: There are many young men who seem to consider it essential to manliness that they should be masters of slang [...] but this dog-English [is] threatening the entire extinction of genuine English!
1868		G.W. Moon Dean’s Eng. xiv: We speak of ‘dog-Latin’; what more appropriate name than ‘dog-English’ could be given to ungentlemanly language like this and how could we better serve the interests of literature than by hooting all such ‘dog-English’ out of society?

1. (US) an unpleasant person; a term of abuse; thus adjs. dogfaced, dawg-faced, stupid-looking, ugly [prior use from mid-19C in nicknames for specific individuals (see HDAS)].

[1700		M. Pix Beau Defeated II i: Heark-yee, you Sneak-nose, Hounds-face, you have Affronted my Master].
1870		E. Greey Queen’s Sailors III 90: You precious half-starved, dog-faced, greasy-looking miserables, what are you kow-towing there for?
1888		N. Devon Jrnl 12 Jan. 2/5: The prisoner [was] coarsely abusing him in an undertone, such words as ‘dog-face’ and ‘d— rogue’ being occasionally audible .
1921		Dos Passos Three Soldiers 401: We all call her the dawg-faced girl.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 238: Now I’ll find Dogface and sock ’im so hard his shirt tail ’ll roll up his back like a window blind.
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 41: Motty waved her soapy paw like a sceptre at her father and said, ‘Dogface!’.
1953		W. Eyster Far from the Customary Skies 127: Push them around like a dog face, handle them like a bus driver.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 8: This here big party we ran. I invited only the local dog faces [...] just dog-faced chicks.
1976		E. Dahlberg Olive of Minerva 144: Your dog-faced truisms.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 49: Put the boot in with shrieks of ‘bollocks, slerp! Dog face and fucking hell’.
1987		N.Y. Times 6 Feb. n.p.: She [...] referred to two of his most ardent supporters as Dog Face and Ham Hocks [R].
2004		Guardian 14 Dec. 24: Dogfaced gits!
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] ‘You and ya dog-faced mate here were all over me’.

2. (US, also dogface grunt) a soldier, an infantryman; thus adjs. dogfaced, dawgfaced[coined as an insult by members of the US Marine Corps, who look down on infantrymen. Allegedly from the old Cheyenne War Society in the Plains Wars, who called themselves Dog Soldiers; the Cavalry took it from them].

1930		in Our Army Dec. 27: These guys are dawg faced soldiers / The same as me an’ you.
1939		Army and Navy Register (US) 18 Nov. 3/2: A ‘Dogface’ is a soldier in the Regular Army.
1949		(con. 1943–5) A. Murphy To Hell and Back (1950) 30: Please let me be a dogface. I’m a fightin’ fool.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 26: You know that. And I know it. And every marine and dogface around here knows it.
1965		(con. 1944) E.M. Nathanson Dirty Dozen (2002) 114: Just another dogfaced sucker.
1978		(con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 72: If I wasn’t over the hill as a good dogface, what i would give to get a crack at these [...] Jap bastards.
1988		(con. WWII) S. Hynes Flights of Passage 209: In the Army they were called Doggies, which was short of Dog-faces.
1994		J. Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week 38: Having served in Korea as a dogface grunt.
2004		E. Weiner Drop Dead, My Lovely (2005) 75: When the dogface grunts ignore the word from upstairs the system gets FUBAR.

see doggy fashion adv.

(Aus.) influenza.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 19: dog fever — A mild form of influenza.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: dog fever. A mild form of influenza.

a fistfight, a brawl.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Oct. 22/1: ‘And do you [...] take this man for your wedded husband?’ / ‘No, I do not,’ she yelled at the top of her voice. ‘I wouldn’t be seen with him at a dog-fight.’.
1927		(con. 1914–18) L. Nason Three Lights from a Match 37: ‘Dog fight,’ answered Spike [...] ‘Bunch of Jerry planes meet up with a bunch of ours and they go to it.’.
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 291: There was every prospect of a legal dogfight.
1947		(ref. to 1880) C.J. Lovell ‘The Background of Mark Twain’s Vocab.’ in AS XXII:2 90: dog-fight. (Both the OED, 1913, and the DAE, 1923, show a transferred sense, ‘general shindy, melee,’ without noting Twain’s similar use, 1880, in the appendix to A Tramp Abroad.).
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 121: dogfight. A melee, a free-for-all, whether among people, airplanes, or dogs.
1991		D. Jenkins You Gotta Play Hurt 96: ‘I tell you what,’ he said. ‘Gonna be a dogfight. [...] It’s gonna be hoss on hoss, is all it is’.
1998		D. Jenkins Rude Behavior 387: ‘I don’t need to tell you we’re in this dogfight. We got us a chance to write sports history’.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

see hair of the dog (that bit one) n. (1)

(W.I. Rasta) a person who is especially cold and cruel.

2008

A. Wheatle Dirty South 71: Red Eyes was a dogheart and he always will be.

see doghouse n. (1)

(US) a late-night/early-morning shift.

1934		J.T. Farrell ‘The Benefits of American Life’ in Short Stories (1937) 225: In the early dog hours of the mornings when there were scarcely any spectators.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 699: She stuck it out through the dog hours of the night.

see separate entry.

(US, also dog) a cheap restaurant, a hot dog stand.

1926		J.J. Finerty Criminalese 16: Dog joint — Place where sausages and sandwiches are sold.
1950		Cornell (University) Alumni News 1 Apr. 337: Half a century ago, your historian took his meals at Hank Norwood’s dog [W&F].

(US black) cheap liquor or wine.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 235: dog juice Cheap liquor, especially wine.

see under kennel n.²

for two lovers to be locked together during intercourse because of a vaginal muscle spasm brought on by a sudden shock.

2002

SOL ‘She’ll Be Puffin’ Like a Steam Train When She Cums’ posted on 4 Jan. on Toledo MudHen Hash House Harriers 🌐 She’ll be screaming like a banshee when she cums / She’ll be howling like a she-wolf when she cums / You’ll be dogknotted for an hour when she cums.

(US) second-rate tobacco.

1858		National Intelligencer 10 July 3/3: A large quantity of ‘dog-leg’ tobacco and red pepper is then thrown into the tub [DA].
1861		R.F. Burton City of the Saints 101: A large quantity of ‘dog-leg’ tobacco and red pepper is then added.
1864		T.F. Upson diary 29 May in Winther With Sherman to the Sea (1958) 113: He gave me some dog leg tobacco.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 70: I had my pipe en a plug er dog-leg, en some matches in my cap.
1891		M.E. Ryan A Pagan of the Alleghanies 25: Then the black-and-tan man treated himself to a fresh chew of ‘dog-leg’ [DA].
1906		A. Adams ‘Rangering’ in Cattle Brands 🌐 I’ll bet a twist of dog, [...] that prisoner with the black whiskers sabes English.

(Aus.) a certificate of exemption from the prohibition of alcohol to Native Australians (under the Aborigines Protection Act 1909–43) that permits them to buy a drink in a hotel.

1955		F.B. Vickers Mirage (1958) 248: Monty wants us to get the dog licence – that’s the paper they give you. [...] If we had this paper, me and you could have walked into that pub and stood at the bar all day and none of ’em could have said a word to us.
1977		in K. Gilbert Living Black 297: Before the 1967 referendum, before citizenship, Aborigines could receive these exemption cards — dog certificates — which enabled them to enter a hotel.
1985		J. Miller Koori 174: The exemption certificates were regarded by most Kooris as a disgusting form of paternalism and were commonly known as ‘dog licences’. A Koori had to ‘behave’ to get the dog licence.

see dog’s meat n.

(US black) to abuse verbally.

1985

T.R. Houser Central Sl. 19: dog mouth To bad rap [...] ‘Don’t dog mouth me man; I can’t ‘G’ for dat’.

(Aus.) howling (of a wounded person).

1905

Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Aug. 36/2: The man who sits up after being hit and makes dog-music over his cut is a blight on the army. I’ve seen a company wiped out because it let a wounded man howl, and his noise smothered the ‘creep-up’ of 500 Filipinos through the cane.

1. a term of contempt.

1998

(con. 1960s) G. Washington Blood Brothers 150: Well, well, well, look what we have here. Old dog nuts himself.

2. (also dognutz) a friend, a general term of address.

1997–2000

College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Dognutz (noun) A friend or acquaintance.

(US) to have anal intercourse.

1962

(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 339: Me and my old lady, whewee – we did a rear maneuver that made the moon start shining in the other direction, and then I backed into it, dog-paddling, and she moaned and groaned.

(US) a small town or hamlet.

1971		B. Moyers Listening to America 338: Since he was defeated four years ago Faubus has been head of Dogpatch, U.S.A., a kind of Ozark Disneyland, which has been a commercial success. [...] if he wins, they believe, one day the whole world will be Dogpatch and they will be free.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 306: Dog Patch (cartoonist Al Capp’s updating of dog town).
1990		(con. Vietnam War) G.R. Clark Words of the Vietnam War 149/1: Dogpatch GI nickname for the Vietnamese shanty towns that sprung up outside the gates of many U.S. base camps.
1992		B. Gifford Night People 37: ‘I been around,’ Jasper said. ‘Dogpatch USA.’.

(US) for a group of people to leap on a single individual; thus also as n.

1945		in T. Shibutani Derelicts of Company K (1978) 273: One of them commented [...] ‘He can either take a beating from one man or [...] be dogpiled by a dozen men’.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 22: If somebody were to say ‘Dogpile on Kevin’ and then thirty guys sat on Kevin, then Kevin would be the wimp.
1997–2002		Hope College ‘Dict. of New Terms’ 🌐 dogpile n. The act of ten or more males jumping upon one victim in a centralized location. The dogpile is done to commemorate a special event like a date or a birthday, or it can be done to teach someone a lesson.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 60: Commotion. Dogpile. The gunman’s down. He’s disarmed. He’s pinned flat.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 283: Somebody Jap-jumped me. A dogpile ensued.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 121: They cursed and screeched. They got up and dogpiled me.

see separate entries.

(N.Z. prison) a solitary confinement cell.

2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 58/2: dog pound n. = pound, the sense 1.

one who drives a team of dogs.

1904

E. Robins Magnetic North 154: No dog-puncher who knows what he’s about travels when his quick goes dead.

see separate entry.

(N.Z. prison) a meat pattie, luncheon sausage or meatload that blends lunceon sausage and vegetables.

1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 29: dog roll n.Prison meatloaf.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 58/2: dog roll n. a meat pattie, a roll of luncheon sausage, or a meatloaf made from luncheon sausage and mixed vegetables.

see also separate entries.

(Irish) harsh verbal criticism.

1925		L. O’Flaherty Informer n.p.: Yer ol’ man gev me dog’s abuse and drov’ me outa the house .
1996		Irish Times 23 Sept. 🌐 After years of dogs’ abuse directed at ‘the feminists’ for saddling women in the homes with a terrible inferiority complex, suddenly the shoe is on the other foot .

(US) a very long time, usu. as phr in a dog’s age.

1836		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) VII 17: That blamed line gale has kept me in bilboes such a dog’s age.
1909		Magnet 10 July 11: The gun hadn’t been loaded in a dog’s age.
1920		E. O’Neill Anna Christie Act I: I ain’t seen Chris in a dog’s age.
1920		Sun (Sydney) 26 Feb. 6/5: Felix Nella, yer see, ’adn’t won a race for a dog’s age; though, mind yer, the good coin ’ud been planked down dozens of times.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 311: Where you been lately, Curly? Haven’t seen you in a dog’s age.
1947		Chicago Sun. Trib. 8 Jun. [comics] 3: You know darn well you haven’t turned on a smile for me in a dog’s age! [DA].
1952		E. Brown Trespass 36: We haven’t seen you in a dog’s age.
1967		(con. 1940s) M. Dibner Admiral (1968) 78: Haven’t seen her in a dog’s age.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 239: I haven’t hung out and bombed around in a dog’s age.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 122: dog’s age. A long time.
2018		T. Pluck ‘Hot Rod Heart’ in Life During Wartime 96: Bobby hadn’t rumbled in a dog’s age, but these kids looked soft.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 161: ‘I has not seened my girl in a dog’s age!’.

(US) one who thinks they are superior to their peers.

1951

(ref. to 1880s) M. Morgan Skid Road 84: The oratory of Populists like Mary Kenworthy, who was belaboring the business man’s backers with such salty epithets as ‘our dog-salmon aristocracy.’.

a joc. form of address.

1965

T.B. Haber ‘Canine Terms Applied to Human Beings’ in AS XL:2 95: dog’s bottom. A term of jocular address.

see dog’s dinner n.

(Aus.) a term of contempt.

c.1943

S .J. Baker Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 8: dog’s bum: A term of contempt.

the smallest possible chance; usu. in negative uses.

1842		Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) 27 Aug. 301: Wagner [i.e. a racehorse] [...] never had a decent dog’s chance [HDAS].
1872		Report of the Joint Select Committee (appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states) 584: ‘Wilson, you have fished for me a long time before you got me to say a word; you know what I told you, and you say it is true.’ I said, ‘Give me a dog’s chance; let me and you settle it between us, or let me quit the State.’.
1898		Chambers’s Jrnl 7 556: He couldn’t have a dog's chance of getting through in any circumstances. What an ass he must be.
1909		‘Blinkhoolie’ Blairmount 103: The French form is said to be very moderate; but no, he can't have a dog's chance.
1909		Mt Sterling Advocate (KY) 24 Feb. 1/5: [They] are hoping that the licensed saloon will be legislated out of business so that they can have a dog’s chance to be men.
1916		‘Taffrail Stand By! [ebook] The trawlers, poor chaps, hadn’t a dog's chance of getting away.
1922		E. Raymond Tell England (1965) 175: I suppose – I haven’t a dog’s chance. Find out if – I’m done for.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 350: Not a dog’s chance! They give ’em a bit of rope and then – got him!
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 275: ‘You’ve got just two chances of that, son.’ ‘Yes, I get you. A dog’s chance and no chance at all.’.
1944		S. Horler Lady with the Limp 175: He hadn’t a dog’s chance to get out of his present predicament.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 149: There’s a dog’s chance of my being able to swallow a mouthful.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 298: They hadn’t a dog’s chance against the up-to-date bombers and fighters the japs were usin’.
1965		D. Martin Hero of Too 252: You haven’t a dog’s chance.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 122: dog’s chance. The worst possible chance.

see separate entry.

(Aus.) one of a variety of illnesses, e.g. influenza, malaria, a hangover.

1890		Braidwood Dispatch 30 Apr. 2/2: They complain in the first instance of a pain in the head [...] It is very similar to the epidemic we had some years ago which went by the names of the ‘Temora rot’ and the ‘dog’s disease.’ [AND].
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 6 July 4/1: A . large number of decent sports have been battling with the ‘dog’s disease,’ called influenza.
1932		L. Mann Flesh in Armour 218: Half the platoon had had dog’s disease.
1953		Baker Aus. Speaks 166: Dog’s disease, malaria.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxiv 4/3: dog’s disease: Influenza.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 77: ‘Dog’s disease’ to some people means ’flu, to others gastro-enteritis.

the act of spitting in someone’s mouth and hitting them on the back.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(Aus.) a meat pie.

2016

N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] The orders [...] usually consisted of a rat coffin or a leper in a sleeping bag (sausage rolls), maggot bag, dog’s eye or mystery bag (pies), dead horse (tomato sauce) and battery acid (cola).

(US) a variety of beer.

c.1895		F. Norris Vandover and the Brute (1914) 81: Bring me a stringy rabbit and a pint of dog’s-head.
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Hamilton Finnerty’s Heart’ in Sandburrs 64: I can now relax an’ toin meself to Gin, Dog’s Head and a general whizz.

see separate entries.

a euph. for bitch n.¹ (1a)

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

the sum of seven shillings and sixpence.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 325/2: from ca. 1930.

(US gay) a notably unattractive and socially unacceptable individual.