a dog's life
a dog's life
A life that is difficult, unpleasant, or boring. You whipper-snappers think you've got a bright future ahead of you, but it's a dog's life, I tell you!
See also: life
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
dog's life
A miserably unhappy existence, as in He's been leading a dog's life since his wife left him. This expression was first recorded in a 16th-century manuscript and alludes to the miserable subservient existence of dogs during this era. By the 1660s there was a proverb: "It's a dog's life, hunger and ease."
See also: life
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
a dog's life
an unhappy existence full of problems or unfair treatment. 1987 Fannie Flagg Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe The judge's daughter had just died a couple of weeks ago, old before her time and living a dog's life on the outskirts of town.
See also: life
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
a ˈdog’s life
(informal) a life in which there is not much pleasure or freedom: It’s a dog’s life having to do two jobs in order to survive.See also: life
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
a dog's life
Miserable circumstances. The term has been traced to Erasmus, who pointed out the wretched subservient existence of dogs in the mid-sixteenth century, as well as to the seventeenth-century proverb, “It’s a dog’s life, hunger and ease.” It was certainly a cliché by the time Rudyard Kipling (A Diversity of Creatures, 1899) wrote, “Politics are not my concern. . . . They impressed me as a dog’s life without a dog’s decencies.” See also die like a dog.
See also: life
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- dog's life
- it's a dog's life
- live a dog's life
- lead a dog's life
- cannot for the life of me/him/her/us/them
- can't for the life of me
- life
- Life is short and time is swift
- life is short(, and time is swift)
- not give a stuff