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• bird dog
  bird dog

  noun

  one of any of various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds.
• bird-dog
  bird-dog

  verb (used with object)

  to follow, watch carefully, or investigate.

bird dog

¹ American  

noun

1. one of any of various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds.

2. Informal. a person hired to locate special items or people, especially a talent scout who seeks out promising athletes.

3. Slang. a person who steals another person's date.

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bird-dog ² American  

[burd-dawg, -dog] / ˈbɜrdˌdɔg, -ˌdɒg /

verb (used with object)

Informal.

bird-dogged, bird-dogging

1. to follow, watch carefully, or investigate.

2. to seek out.

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verb (used without object)

bird-dogged, bird-dogging

1. Informal. to follow or watch carefully.

2. Slang. to steal or attempt to steal another person's date.

bird dog British  

noun

1. hunting a dog used or trained to retrieve game birds after they are shot

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verb

1. informal to control closely with unceasing vigilance

Etymology

Origin of bird dog¹

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

Origin of bird-dog²

v. use of bird dog

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bird dog bird-dog bird-dogged bird-dogging

On Saturday as she was discharged, she took to the lawn outside the hospital with the determination of a bird dog, nose to the ground and pulling on her leash.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 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

A big bird dog, bolder than the others, darted in.

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

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

Now that we know how the show works, it's easy to bird-dog the secrets hiding in plain sight.

From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2022

She said she does the same with her colleagues in Congress during her “never-ending effort” to bird-dog growing legislative efforts to require more scrutiny of Chinese students and scholars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2019

The initial park-heavy, public-ownership vision for the property has, for the most part, been abandoned, although activists continue to bird-dog the development piece by piece as it comes up for permit review.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 6, 2018

She felt herself being charmed by it, and wondered if a quail might feel so while crouching before the point of a bird-dog.

From Sunlight Patch by Harris, Credo Fitch

“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

Dan Friesen, co-host of the podcast Knowledge Fight, has been valiantly bird-dogging Jones for years.

From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2022

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 these, he is inventively abetted by Marc Spicer’s bird-dogging camera, which noses around closet doors and into cellar corners with shivery curiosity.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2016

His campaign has beefed up a team dedicated to bird-dogging the arcane state-by-state process of selecting delegates — which Trump is struggling to navigate — assigning each delegate to a dedicated campaign staffer for support.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2016

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