dog

I. n

1a.

an ugly, unpleasant or unattractive woman or girl. This sense of the word was in common use in the USA from the 1950s. It was adopted by British speak-ers in the mid-1970s.

1b.

American

something unpleasant or worthless. Expressions in which 'dog' sig-nifies distaste or contempt are almost all American in origin, presumably reflecting the cliche that the British are a nation of dog lovers. Nevertheless there are occa-sional instances of this sense in British English.

This car's a dog!

1c.

a company or share that performs badly on the stock exchange, a worthless piece of stock (these are also known as bow-wow stocks)

2.

British

a wig, toupee. The word usually implies a ragged, ill-fitting or generally unconvincing hairpiece. It has been in use among teenagers at least since the early 1970s.

3.

a rogue, (likeable) reprobate. A 19th-century usage, now a colloquialism usu-ally surviving in the form '(you) old dog!'.

4.

British

a dog-end

5.

See dogs

II. vb

American

to abandon, reject, get rid of. The word in this sense has been used by teenag-ers and college students since the late 1980s.

► 'Dog the dorm rules now!' (A Different World, American TV series, 1987)

III.

See: dog and bone

IV.

See: dog it

V.

See: dawg