Heading
1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xxxviii. The detective had reason to know that the Dogberries of Doncaster, . . . were on the wrong scent.
1869. Gent. Mag., July, p. 195. I trust I shall not be accounted a dogberry, lavish in my tediousness, if I bestow one more anecdote upon my readers.
Dog Biting Dog, adv. phr. (theatrical).—Said
of actors who
spitefully criticise each others
performance.
Dog-Cheap, adj. (colloquial).—Very
cheap; of little worth; foolish.
[Skeat: from Swed., dog,
= very; Latham: the first syllable
is god = good, transposed +
cheap, from chapman, a merchant—hence,
a good bargain
(Fr., bon marché).]
1598. Shakspeare, i Henry IV., iii. 3. The sack . . . would have bought me lights as good-cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe.
1606. Dekker, Newes from Hell, in wks. (Grosart), ii., 116. Three things there are dog-cheap, learning, poore men's sweat, and others.
1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act II. No fat over-grown virgin of forty ever offered herself so dog cheap, or was more despised.
1772. Foote, Nabob, Act II. dog-cheap; neck-beef; a penny-loaf for a half-*penny.
1830. Marryat, Kings Own, ch. xxx. I'll sell mine, dog-cheap, if any one will buy it.
1851. Carlyle, John Sterling, pt. I., ch. x. There lay in a certain neighbouring creek of the Irish coast, a worn-out royal gun-brig condemned to sale, to be had dog-cheap.
Dog-Collar, subs. (common).—A
'stand-up' shirt collar; an all-rounder
(q.v.).
1883. Grenville-Murray, People I have Met, p. 42. The dog-collar which rose above the black cloth was of spotless purity.
Dog-Drawn (old), adj. phr.—Said
of a bitch from which a dog has
been removed by force during
coition. Sometimes applied to
women.
Dogger, verb (Charterhouse).—To
cheat; to sell rubbish.
Doggery, subs. (popular).—1.
Transparent cheating. Cf., dogger.
[Carlyle in Frederick uses doggery = the doings of a scurvy set of soldiers.]
2. (American).—A low drinking saloon.
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 315. Doggeries are only found near the shanties of Irish laborers or in remote western and southern settlements.
Doggoned, adj. (American).—A
euphemistic oath.—See Oaths.
1852. Gladstone, Englishman in Kansas, p. 46. If there's a dog-goned abolitionist aboard this boat, I should like to see him. I'm the man to put a chunk o' lead into his woolly head right off.
1873. Carlton, Farm Ballads, p. 80. But when that choir got up to sing, I couldn't catch a word; They sung the most dog-gondest thing A body ever heard!
1879. Eggleston, The Hoosier Schoolmaster. I never knowed but one gal in my life as had cyphered into fractions, and she was so dog on stuck up, that she turned up her nose one night at an apple-peelin' bekase I tuck a sheet off the bed to splice out the table-cloth, which was rather short.
Doggy, subs. (mining).—See quot.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, bk, III. ch. i., note. A Batty in the mining districts is a middleman; a doggy is his manager.
Adj. (colloquial).—1. Connected with, or relating to dogs.
1883. Graphic, 24 Feb., p. 199. col. 3. Liverpool and the Adelphi Hotel in particular, are now [time of Altcar coursing meeting] the headquarters of all the doggy men of the three kingdoms.
