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.
Don’t worry — the dog, it turns out, is fine.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2025
Meet the raccoon dog; it earns its name from its black facial markings, which give the animal a masked appearance and a more-than-passing resemblance to those infamous raiders of urban trash cans.
From New York Times • Mar. 17, 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
Thames Valley Police said further testing had to take place to determine which breed of dog it was.
From BBC • Feb. 8, 2023
In this world of dog eat dog, it is rare to find a friend ... a really sincere friend ... or so I thought.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
