dogged
Related to dogged: doggedness
bird-dog
1. To become romantically involved with someone else's significant other, especially when done by a man. I can't believe that guy bird-dogged me and stole my girlfriend!
2. To pay close, usually unwelcome, attention to someone else. Would you quit bird-dogging me and let me work in peace?
dog
1. verb To judge or criticize someone for something. Why are you dogging me about this? It's really not a big deal.
2. verb To follow or pursue someone. You've been dogging me since I left the gas station—what's your deal, man?
3. verb To persistently trouble someone. I really think she should see a therapist if memories of the accident keep dogging her like that.
4. noun Something of poor quality. That movie was a real dog—I left before it was over.
5. noun An unattractive or unappealing female. I'm not asking that girl out—she's a real dog!
6. noun, slang The phone. The term comes from rhyming slang in which "dog" is short for "dog and bone," which rhymes with "phone." Primarily heard in UK, Australia. Is that the dog? Can someone answer it? My sister has been blabbing on the dog for hours every night ever since she got a boyfriend. It's so annoying.
dog around
1. To follow or pursue someone tenaciously. A noun or pronoun can be used between "dog" and "around." They hired a private detective to dog him around for a few weeks to see what he was up to. The player spent most of the game being dogged around the field by the other team.
2. To continue to be a source of frustration, difficulty, or hardship for someone. A noun or pronoun can be used between "dog" and "around." That conviction I got as a teenager has dogged me around my whole life.
See also: around, dog
dog it
1. To be lazy; to loaf or shirk duty; to fail to put forth the effort necessary to achieve or accomplish something. Jim became totally disheartened after losing his job and has been dogging it around the house for the past month. I hate my job, so I just dog it in the office until it's time to go home. I once had dreams of going to med school, but I dogged it during my last two years in college and can't get in anywhere now.
2. To renege on, back out of, hastily leave, or flee from something. I'm afraid the company dogged it from the deal at the last minute. We dogged it out of there once we heard the sirens blaring.
See also: dog
dog out
1. slang To subject someone to severe mistreatment or abuse. A noun or pronoun can be used between "dog" and "out." Turns out he'd been dogging me out for more than a year—cheating on me, stealing from me, and then making me think I was crazy for ever suspecting him.
2. slang By extension, to abuse someone verbally; to trash talk someone. A noun or pronoun can be used between "dog" and "out." She came out of the house and started dogging her husband out in front of the whole neighborhood. He's made a living from dogging out people on his radio show.
See also: dog, out
it's dogged that does it
Hard work and perseverance leads to success. Well, keep going—it's dogged that does it!
See also: does, dogged, that
prairie dog
1. To pop one's head up, especially from below or behind something or some surface, in a manner resembling a prairie dog emerging from its burrow. Everyone started prairie dogging in their cubicles to see where the music was coming from. The puppy prairie dogged the moment she heard the bag of treats being opened.
2. vulgar slang To need to defecate so badly that one's feces begin to come out through the anus involuntarily. I need to find a bathroom now—I'm starting to prairie dog! I was prairie dogging it by the time we finally got to a rest stop.
See also: dog
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
dog it
1. Do less than is required; loaf or shirk. For example, I'm afraid our donors are dogging it this year. This expression originated in sports and soon was transferred to other endeavors. [Slang; c. 1900]
2. Move slowly, as in We just dogged it along from California to Oregon.
3. Run away, as in Let's dog it out of here right now. This usage originated in American underworld slang in the 1920s, where it meant "to back down in cowardly fashion," and acquired its present sense about 1930.
4. Same as put on the dog.
See also: dog
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
bird-dog
1. tv. to take away another man’s girlfriend. Why’d you have to go and bird-dog me, your best buddy?
2. tv. to supervise someone; to tail someone. Marlowe knew somebody was bird-dogging him, but he was too smart to show it.
dog
1. n. a foot. (Usually plural.) I gotta get home and soak my dogs.
2. n. an ugly girl. (Rude and derogatory.) I’m no dog, but I could wish for some changes.
3. n. something undesirable or worthless; merchandise that no one wants to buy. Put the dogs out on the sale table so people will see them.
4. n. dog dung. (see also dog-doo.) There’s some dog on the lawn.
5. tv. to follow someone. The cop dogged Lefty for a week.
6. tv. to stay with one and haunt one. Will this memory dog me all the days of my life?
7. tv. to eat something; to eat something as a dog eats. He dogged his hamburger and ran out the door to catch the bus.
8. tv. to criticize someone or something. Stop dogging me about every little thing!
9. and dawg and dogg. n. buddy; friend. (Originally black. Also a term of address. The spelling variations do not affect pronunciation.) Hey, dog! Tsup? Word, dog.
prairie dog
in. [for people in office cubicles] to pop up to see what’s going on in the rest of the office. Everybody was prairie dogging to see what was going on.
See also: dog
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
dog it
Slang To fail to expend the effort needed to do or accomplish something.
See also: dog
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
- bird-dog
- empathize
- empathize with
- empathize with (someone or something)
- there are plenty more where he/she/they came from
- ride (one's) coattails
- ride on (one's) coattails
- ride on coattails
- ride on someone's/something's coat-tails
- ride (on) the coattails of (someone)