dog Latin

American  

noun

1. mongrel or spurious Latin.

2. a jargon imitating Latin.

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dog Latin British  

noun

1. spurious or incorrect Latin

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Etymology

Origin of dog Latin

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

In 1992 the Queen disarmed the disaster of the Windsor Fire and the breakdown of three of her children's marriages by resorting to some facetious dog Latin - 1992 had been her "Annus Horribilis", she explained with a smile.

From BBC

No hotch-potch here of dog Latin and Levantine Greek, but plain straight English, cool and fresh in the mouth.

From Project Gutenberg

My old friend Tyro, a half-bred collie, but most beautiful animal, understood and was in the habit of being talked to in three languages, to say nothing of broad Scotch, namely, English, Gaelic, and Latin—no, not dog Latin, by your leave, sir, but the real Simon Pure and Ciceronic.

From Project Gutenberg

The Italian language, recently emerged from dog Latin, had just begun to serve literary uses, and Frederick's court had the honour of producing the first school of Italian poetry.

From Project Gutenberg

The Statutes I find to be written in a Latin form—I cannot say, in a dead language, for it is of a kind very much resembling the living, and of that description vulgarly termed 'Dog' Latin; so that I, who never got further than Eutropius, and whose acquaintance with the language has become rusty from want of use, can easily make out a translation of the sentences.

From Project Gutenberg