dog it
Idioms-
Do less than is required; loaf or shirk. For example, I'm afraid our donors are dogging it this year . This expression originated in sports and soon was transferred to other endeavors. [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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Move slowly, as in We just dogged it along from California to Oregon .
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Run away, as in Let's dog it out of here right now . This usage originated in American underworld slang in the 1920s, where it meant “to back down in cowardly fashion,” and acquired its present sense about 1930.
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Same as put on the dog .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As heartbreaking as it is to give up your dog, it is possible to live without one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
Don’t worry — the dog, it turns out, is fine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2025
When we showed Lens a photo of a dog, it was able to suggest its likely breed.
From New York Times ● May 22, 2023
“If you go through just what normal people do, going through a fog, going through a forest, walking the dog, it works very well,” he says.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
Unlike the foolish dog, it never showed itself in the courtyard when others were there, but would come only to me.
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
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.
