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nodding dog

British  

noun

  1. a small model of a dog carried as a mascot in a motor vehicle, with a head so mounted that it moves up and down with the motion of the vehicle

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Killer Joanna Dennehy was like a Shakespearean villain who bent alleged accomplices to her will and turned one into a "nodding dog", a jury has heard.

From BBC

The writer described by writing that it looked "as if the nodding dog in a car was channelling the Joker".

From BBC

Churchill – you know, the ads with the nodding dog – parted company with Clunes when a court banned him from driving last year.

From The Guardian

The Men Behaving Badly actor had appeared alongside a nodding dog in advertisements for Churchill's Insurance since December last year.

From BBC

Oh yes, yes, yes, Royal Bank of Scotland hopes City fund managers will bark this week in synchronised impressions of that irritating nodding dog on the company's Churchill ads.

From The Guardian