dogsbody
Americannoun
-
dogsbodies
plural
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dogsbody
First recorded in 1810–20; originally a junior naval officer, earlier a sailor's term for soaked sea biscuits or pease pudding
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.
See Examples For:
Aiding everyone is Lisa Kwak as The Mute, a sort of onstage stagehand and dogsbody who distributes props as needed, moves set pieces and generally keeps the show moving.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Shelley is forbearance personified but she’s tired of being taken by Mira “for a dogsbody, a beta fish, a bridesmaid, a ride-along.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
Powell stayed at Duckworth’s, as an all-purpose dogsbody, for ten mostly unhappy years.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018
I was the dogsbody of the defence team, fetching books and herding witnesses.
From The Guardian ● May 26, 2018
Mr Wood lacked such knowledge and would have only been able to act as a "general dogsbody", the lawyer said.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2016
It could become a palace of unelected hacks and dogsbodies, unlikely to provide independent and considered advice.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
