Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) the essence, the spirit.

1967		(con. 1950s) W. Crawford Gresham’s War 116: He just knocked the dogshit out of one M.P [HDAS].
1968		in B. Jackson In the Life (1972) 434: Your old man [...] ought to kick the dog shit out of you.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough (1978) 288: Winnin’ ain’t the only good thing in life but it beats the dogshit out of whatever’s next.
1984		A. Sample Racehoss 85: He’d beat the dogshit out of her [HDAS].
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Knockemstiff’ in Knockemstiff 25: [L]istening to those goddamn boys run the dogshit out of that old junker some more.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 133: [H]e went about smoking the dogshit out of us for a while on the blacktop in the noon heat. He really gave us the works.

2. anything or anyone considered objectionable, unpleasant, disgusting.

1969		H. Rap Brown Die, Nigger Die! 131: White folks will co-opt dog shit if it's to their advantage.
1971		K. Gilbert Cherry Pickers II i: I’ll give yer all the fight yer want, ya derty little lump of dogshit!
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 108: His regular business is dogshit.
1981		(con. 1967) P. Conroy Lords of Discipline 457: I think you’re some kind of low-grade dogshit, Colonel.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In I i: Thinks she’s better than us. They all do. Especially dogshit ...
1987		(con. 1967) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 121: If you come up with a better idea, you be sure and tell us, because we’re blanker than dogshit.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 75: Back in the world I would not eat beef spiced with sauce. It is dog shit.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 155: The Harrow Road’s full of dogshit that comes alive after dark.
1998		(con. 1960s) G. Washington Blood Brothers 137: You dog shit of a man. You bird brain.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 29: They’re eating dogshit that passes for food.
2003		Simon & Pelecanos ‘Duck and Cover’ Wire ser. 2 ep. 8 [TV script] We just selling dogshit up here.
2012		B. Willoughby ‘Spelled with a K’ in ThugLit Oct. [ebook] ‘My name is Dogshit’.
2025		Bluesky 9 Feb. 🌐 [M]ove along or eff off when someone posts about something fun and you only have dog shit to offer.

3. nonsense.

1973		C. Gaines Stay Hungry 196: ‘Those people stand for quality of life.’ [...] ‘Dogshit,’ said Mary Tate.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In Act II: Dogshit!
1992		J. Mowry Way Past Cool 6: That ain’t nuthin but TV dogshit, sucker!

4. (N.Z. prison) an abusive nickname for a member of the Mongrel Mob biker/prison gang.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 59/1: dog shit n. 1 an abusive name for a Member of the Mongrel Mob gang (see dog sense 1).

5. (Aus.) nothing.

2009

P. Temple Truth 28: Dead woman, no clothes, no ID, no idea how she got there, no vision, so we have dogshit.

6. used as a name to dismiss a despised place.

2020

D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 44: ‘I’ll be lucky to be a mall cop in Dogshit, Alabama.’.