Dog Definition

dôg, dŏg
dogged, dogging, dogs
noun
dogs

A mammal, Canis lupus familiaris, that has been domesticated for thousands of years, of highly variable appearance due to human breeding.

The dog barked all night long.
Wiktionary
Any of various wild canines.
Webster's New World
The male of a canine.
Webster's New World
A prairie dog, dogfish, or other animal thought to resemble a dog.
Webster's New World
A mean, contemptible fellow.
Webster's New World
adverb
Very; completely.
Dog-tired.
Webster's New World
verb
dogged, dogging, dogs
To follow, hunt, or track down doggedly.
Webster's New World
To hold or secure with a mechanical dog.
Webster's New World
To be persistently or inescapably associated with.
Questions about his youthful indiscretions dogged him throughout his career.
American Heritage
To be recurrently or persistently in the mind; haunt.
Despair dogged him in his final years.
American Heritage
To pursue with the intent to catch.
Wiktionary
Antonyms:
adjective
Designating a family (Canidae) of meat-eating animals that includes dogs, foxes, wolves, coyotes, and jackals.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
abbreviation
Digitally Originated Graphic.
Wiktionary
idiom
dog it
  • To fail to expend the effort needed to do or accomplish something.
American Heritage
go to the dogs
  • To go to ruin; degenerate.
American Heritage
put on the dog
  • To make an ostentatious display of elegance, wealth, or culture.
American Heritage
a dog's age
  • a long time
Webster's New World
a dog's life
  • a wretched existence
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Dog

Noun

Singular:
dog
Plural:
dogs

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Dog

Origin of Dog

  • From Middle English dogge, from Old English docga (“hound, powerful breed of dog”), a pet-form diminutive of Old English *docce (“muscle”) (found in compound fingerdocce (“finger-muscle”) with suffix -ga (compare frocga (“frog”), picga (“pig”)). Cognate with Scots dug (“dog”). The true origin is unknown, but one possibility is from Proto-Germanic *dukkǭ (“power, strength, muscle”), though this may just be confusion with dock. In the 16th century, it superseded Old English hund and was adopted by several continental European languages.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English dogge from Old English docga

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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