Dog Definition
A mammal, Canis lupus familiaris, that has been domesticated for thousands of years, of highly variable appearance due to human breeding.
- To fail to expend the effort needed to do or accomplish something.
- To go to ruin; degenerate.
- To make an ostentatious display of elegance, wealth, or culture.
- a long time
- a wretched existence
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Dog
- dog it
- go to the dogs
- put on the dog
- a dog's age
- a dog's life
- dog in the manger
- dog it
- every dog has his day
- go to the dogs
- let sleeping dogs lie
- put on the dog
- teach an old dog new tricks
- the Greater Dog
- the Lesser 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 In the 16th century, it superseded Old English hund and was adopted by several continental European languages.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
Related Articles
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to dog using the buttons below.