dog it
Idioms-
Do less than is required; loaf or shirk. For example, I'm afraid our donors are dogging it this year . This expression originated in sports and soon was transferred to other endeavors. [ Slang ; c. 1900]
-
Move slowly, as in We just dogged it along from California to Oregon .
-
Run away, as in Let's dog it out of here right now . This usage originated in American underworld slang in the 1920s, where it meant “to back down in cowardly fashion,” and acquired its present sense about 1930.
-
Same as put on the dog .
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.
Don’t worry — the dog, it turns out, is fine.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2025
Meet the raccoon dog; it earns its name from its black facial markings, which give the animal a masked appearance and a more-than-passing resemblance to those infamous raiders of urban trash cans.
From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2023
“If you go through just what normal people do, going through a fog, going through a forest, walking the dog, it works very well,” he says.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2023
As such, if a human wants to communicate with a dog, it has to try to respect the dog's wishes.
From Salon • Feb. 22, 2023
Its midsection is now the shape and size of the dog; it almost looks fake.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
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.
