dog

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [C] an animal with four legs and a tail, often kept as a pet or trained for work, for example hunting or guarding buildings. There are many types of dog, some of which are wild: I took the dog for a walk. * I could hear a dog barking. * dog food * guard dogs * a dog and her puppies seealsoGUIDEDOG, GUNDOG, LAPDOG, SHEEPDOG, SNIFFERDOG, TRACKERDOG 2 [C] a male dog, FOX or WOLF compareBITCH 3 (the dogs) [pl.] (BrE, informal) GREYHOUND racing 4 [C] (slang, especially AmE) a thing of low quality; a failure: Her last movie was an absolute dog. 5 [C] (slang, especially AmE) an offensive way of describing a woman who is not considered attractive 6 [C] (informal, disapproving) used, especially after an adjective, to describe a man who has done sth bad: You dirty dog! seealsoHOTDOG, SHAGGY-DOGSTORY, TOPDOG, WATCHDOG IDIOMS (a case of) dog eat dog a situation in business, politics, etc. where there is a lot of competition and people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed: I'm afraid in this line of work it's a case of dog eat dog. * We're operating in a dog-eat-dog world. a dog in the manger a person who stops other people from enjoying what he or she cannot use or does not want a dog's breakfast / dinner (BrE, informal) a thing that has been done badly SYNMESS: He's made a real dog's breakfast of these accounts. a dog's life an unhappy life, full of problems or unfair treatment: He led poor Amy a dog's life. She was desperately lonely, poor dear. every dog has his / its day (saying) everyone has good luck or success at some point in their life go to the dogs (AmE also go to hell in a handbasket) (informal) to get into a very bad state: This firm's gone to the dogs since the new management took over. not have a dog's chance to have no chance at all: He hasn't a dog's chance of passing the exam. moreatHAIR, RAINv., SICKadj., SLEEPv., TAILn., TEACH verb (-gg-) [VN] 1 (of a problem or bad luck) to cause you trouble for a long time: He had been dogged by bad health all his life. * Her career was dogged by misfortune. 2 to follow sb closely: She had the impression that someone was dogging her steps.