one of any of various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds.
Informal. a person hired to locate special items or people, especially a talent scout who seeks out promising athletes.
Slang. a person who steals another person's date.
to follow, watch carefully, or investigate.
to seek out.
Informal. to follow or watch carefully.
Slang. to steal or attempt to steal another person's date.
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
v. use of bird dog
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“If you know a minuscule amount about a bird dog, you don’t take a 14 month old out with trained adult dogs and expect them to perform. That’s not how it works.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
Salazar, whose office's organized crime investigators are looking into the issue, said a recruiter was paid a "bird dog fee" to recruit people to board a plane.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2022
“I wish I got as excited about anything as much as a bird dog going after a pheasant,” he once told reporters.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2017
But in a state with an official — deep breath — tree, bird, dog, animal, insect, amphibian, butterfly, saltwater fish, freshwater fish, rock, mineral, gem and, yes, tartan, some say the legislators have a point.
From US News ● Mar. 30, 2015
She was as busy as a bird dog, one of her own favorite sayings.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
In times past, the nation would have learned of the fate of the commonwealth’s senior senator because a bird-dog reporter like Al Cross would have tracked it all down and reported it.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
Say what you will about his politics; the Tesla Model Y drives like a bird-dog in the hunt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
“It took three and a half years of weekly protests outside her office. Plus, we also had a bird-dog campaign against her. Every time we’d find out where she was, we’d go,” Abdullah explained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2022
The city also has restricted the renting of homes through online short-term rental services such as Airbnb, but like most small municipalities, it can’t bird-dog all that activity.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2019
But somehow they seem to lack the pride and responsiveness that I find in those with bird-dog ancestry.
From Baldy of Nome by Darling, Esther Birdsall
“Politicians aren’t ignoring us anymore, and it’s because we agitated, we organized, and we bird-dogged these politicians every place they were.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2021
Television crews bird-dogged passing senators with questions and quips.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2017
They bird-dogged public hearings and visited Chambers of Commerce and Lions and Rotary Clubs, putting 200,000 miles on their truck.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2011
Over New Year's, they bird-dogged a line of student demonstrators on a four-day, 75-mile protest walk from Belfast to Londonderry.
From Time Magazine Archive
The organization will continue to use “the full set of tactics that we have used in the past,” said Prakash, meaning that Sunrise’s bird-dogging and sit-ins probably aren’t going anywhere.
From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2022
A few residents kept a close eye on the mounting crisis, posting news of pipe breaks and photos of filthy water online, as well as bird-dogging local officials.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2019
When they did make contact, they deployed a strategy known as bird-dogging, asking pointed questions about how a senator would be voting.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 6, 2018
In bird-dogging senators, I worked with one of our ace congressional correspondents, Thomas Kaplan, who honed his skills prying secrets out of the New York State Legislature.
From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2017
He's hand in glove with McCaffery and that blonde is bird-dogging him around town and pointing out McCaffery's enemies.
From "And That's How It Was, Officer" by Sholto, Ralph
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
