dog

Plural: dogs

Noun

a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds
- "the dog barked all night"
a dull unattractive unpleasant girl or woman
- "she's a real dog"
informal term for a man
- "you lucky dog"
someone who is morally reprehensible
- "you dirty dog"
a smooth-textured sausage of minced beef or pork usually smoked; often served on a bread roll
a hinged catch that fits into a notch of a ratchet to move a wheel forward or prevent it from moving backward
metal supports for logs in a fireplace
A mammal of the family Canidae:
The species Canis familiaris (sometimes designated Canis lupus familiaris), domesticated for thousands of years and of highly variable appearance because of human breeding.
A mammal of the family Canidae:
Any member of the family Canidae, including domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, foxes, and their relatives (extant and extinct).
A mammal of the family Canidae:
A male dog, wolf, or fox, as opposed to a bitch or vixen.
The meat of this animal, eaten as food.
A person:
A dull, unattractive girl or woman.
A person:
A man, guy, chap.
A person:
Someone who is cowardly, worthless, or morally reprehensible.
A person:
A sexually aggressive man.
A mechanical device or support:
Any of various mechanical devices for holding, gripping, or fastening something, particularly with a tooth-like projection.
A mechanical device or support:
A click or pallet adapted to engage the teeth of a ratchet wheel, to restrain the back action.
A mechanical device or support:
A metal support for logs in a fireplace.
A mechanical device or support:
A double-ended side spike driven through a hole in the flange of a rail on a tramway.
The eighteenth Lenormand card.
A hot dog: a frankfurter, wiener, or similar sausage; or a sandwich made from this.
An underdog.
Foot; toe.
(from "dog and bone") Phone or mobile phone.
One of the cones used to divide up a racetrack when training horses.
Something that performs poorly.
Something that performs poorly.
A flop; a film that performs poorly at the box office.
A cock, as of a gun.
A dance having a brief vogue in the 1960s in which the actions of a dog were mimicked.

Verb

Verb Forms: dogged, dogging, dogs

To follow closely and persistently; to trouble or harass.
go after with the intent to catch
- "the dog chased the rabbit"
To pursue with the intent to catch.
To follow in an annoying or harassing way.
To fasten a hatch securely.
To watch, or participate, in sexual activity in a public place.
To intentionally restrict one's productivity as employee; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.
To criticize.
To divide (a watch) with a comrade.

Adj

Of inferior quality; very bad.

Examples

A surprise inspection of the night shift found that some workers were dogging it.
Come back and fight, you dogs!
Did you know that they eat dog in parts of Asia?
I admit that I like to dog at my local country park.
It is very important to dog down these hatches.
My dog is dead.
My dogs are barking!
Oh man, this game is absolutely dog!
She’s a real dog.
That modification turned his Dodge hemi into a dog.
That pesky ’U’ tile seemed to DOG him for the entire Words With Friends game.
The dog barked all night long.
The dogs were too hot to touch.
The woman cursed him so that trouble would dog his every step.
You dirty dog.
You look good in those shoes with your dogs out!
You lucky dog!

Origin / Etymology

Inherited from Middle English dogge (akin to Scots dug), from Old English dogga, docga, of uncertain origin.
The original meaning seems to have been a common dog, as opposed to a well-bred one, or something like 'cur', and perhaps later came to be used for stocky dogs. Possibly a pet-form diminutive with suffix -ga (compare frocga (“frog”), *picga (“pig”)), appended to a base *dog-, *doc- of unclear origin and meaning. One possibility is Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”) (compare frocga from frox). Another proposal is that it derives from Proto-West Germanic *dugan (“to be suitable”), the origin of Old English dugan (“to be good, worthy, useful”), English dow, Dutch deugen, German taugen. The theory goes that it could have been an epithet for dogs, commonly used by children, meaning "good/useful animal". Another is that it is related to *docce (“stock, muscle”), from Proto-West Germanic *dokkā (“round mass, ball, muscle, doll”), whence English dock (“stumpy tail”).
In 14th-century England, hound (from Old English hund) was the general word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype resembling the modern mastiff and bulldog. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, and hound had begun to refer only to breeds used for hunting. In the 16th century, the word dog was adopted by several continental European languages as their word for mastiff.
Despite similarities in forms and meaning, not related to Mbabaram dog.

Synonyms

andiron, blackguard, bounder, cad, Canis familiaris, chase, chase after, click, detent, dog-iron, domestic dog, firedog, frank, frankfurter, frump, give chase, go after, heel, hot dog, hotdog, hound, pawl, tag, tail, track, trail, weenie, wiener, wienerwurst, Canis aegyptius, Canis canis, Canis domesticus, Canis familiaris saultor, Canis familiarus aegyptius, Canis familiarus domesticus, Canis familiarus melitaeus, Canis familiarus molossus, Canis melitaeus, Canis molossus, Canis saultor, bloke, canid, canine, chap, dog, dog meat, doge, dogflesh, dogger, doggo, doggy, dogiron, dude, fellow, fire dog, flea bag idiom, fool, fragrant meat, goldbrick, guy, latrant, man, man's best friend, pallet, pooch, pupper, pupperino, pursue, ratchet, scoundrel, sire, soldier, stud, taxonomic names: Canis familiaris, woofer

Scrabble Score: 5

dog: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
dog: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
dog: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

dog: valid Words With Friends Word