prairie-dogging

British

noun

informal (in an open-plan office) the practice of looking over the top of one's partition in order to discover the source of or reason for a commotion

"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

Etymology

Origin of prairie-dogging

C20: after the actions of a _{prairie dog} , which stands on its hind legs to get a better view of something

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.

I am, as the kids say, “prairie-dogging it.”

From New York Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023