doge

¹ American  

[dohj] / doʊdʒ /

noun

1. the chief magistrate in the former republics of Venice and Genoa.

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doge ² American  

[dohj, dohzh] / doʊdʒ, doʊʒ /

noun

1. an internet fad or meme typified by an image of a dog of the Shiba Inu breed accompanied by very short phrases that humorously represent the dog's imagined thoughts and use the wrong modifiers or shortened word forms, as "such dignified" or "amaze."

2. one such image posted on the internet.

   That's the cutest doge I've ever seen!

3. the innovative grammar or language of doge.

   If you don't speak doge, you might be a little confused.

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doge British  

/ dəʊdʒ /

noun

1. (formerly) the chief magistrate in the republics of Venice (until 1797) and Genoa (until 1805)

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Other Word Forms

• dogedom noun
• dogeship noun

Etymology

Origin of doge¹

1540–50; < Upper Italian ( Venetian ) < Latin ducem, accusative of dux leader; duce, duke, dux

Origin of doge²

First recorded in 2005–10; intentional misspelling of dog

Example Sentences

The memes typically used goofy broken English to reveal the inner thoughts of Kabosu and other shiba inu "doge" - pronounced like pizza "dough" but with a "j" at the end.

From BBC • May 24, 2024

Kabosu, the dog behind the "doge" meme, has died after 14 years of internet fame, her owner has said.

From BBC • May 24, 2024

On Monday, some users began seeing a doge in place of Twitter’s traditional bird logo.

From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2023

"There's a lot of speculation that Twitter will provide a test bed for doge adoption and experimentation for different uses," Dibb added.

From Reuters • Nov. 8, 2022

Each volume is dedicated to a different patron—the pope, the doge, the king of Spain, &c.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 "Electrostatics" to "Engis" by Various