See dog robber on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for dog robber meaning in All languages combined (6.9kB)
{
"etymology_text": "There are many conjectures about the origin of this term, ranging from the peacetime occupation of the title character in The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, to the use of the term dog for enlisted men, hence someone who took the best of everything away from the dogs to give to the officers. The most likely conjecture is that it comes from a 19th-century term for a contemptible person who stole scraps of leftover food that would otherwise be fed to dogs.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "dog robbers",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "dog robber (plural dog robbers)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1900, McClure's Magazine - Volume 15",
"text": "Get out of my daylight, you dog-robber, or I'll walk the little horse around your neck like a three-ringed circus.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1910, Dane Coolidge, Hidden Water, page 125",
"text": "Waal—now! I tell you, boy, I knowed you—I knowed you the minute you called down that dog-robber of a barkeep",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1968, Vardis Fisher, Opal Laurel Holmes, Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West, page 421",
"text": "The whiffet of the Carpet Bagger's organ at Tucson appears to be spoiling for a newspaper fight with the Miner, but the Miner cannot lower its dignity and character, or neglect the interest of its supporters, by noticing so contemptible a blockhead, dog-robber, liar, and slanderer.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food."
],
"id": "en-dog_robber-en-noun-C8gjX5pP",
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"contemptible",
"contemptible"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete, derogatory) A contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food."
],
"tags": [
"derogatory",
"obsolete"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1888, Felix Leopold Oswald, The Bible of Nature; Or, The Principles of Secularism, page 87",
"text": "If they would hire me for a dog-robber (a low menial), I would do it for a dime a day,\" he muttered, \" just for the chance to hear them talk.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1944, Rutgers Alumni Monthly - Volume 24, Issue 1, page 29",
"text": "I had a so-called dog-robber, a native boy who washed my clothes and cooked for me.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A menial; a low-level servant."
],
"id": "en-dog_robber-en-noun-dxfCfkro",
"links": [
[
"menial",
"menial"
],
[
"servant",
"servant"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) A menial; a low-level servant."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "dogsbody"
}
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "26 10 38 22 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1892, Stanton P. Allen, Down in Dixie: Life in a Cavalry Regiment in the War Days, from the Wilderness to Appomattox, page 488",
"text": "He had detailed from his company a jovial Irish lad as orderly — the regular army name for the position is dog-robber.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, Clint Lamm, Tales From the Picket Line, page 103",
"text": "He had a pretty good assignment as the dog-robber, or orderly, for Lieutenant Friel.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, R.D. Bullard, Civil War III, page 13",
"text": "I'll call my dog robber and have him meet you there—I don't want either of these messages destroyed.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer."
],
"id": "en-dog_robber-en-noun-AYLJzFCR",
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"officer",
"officer"
],
[
"orderly",
"orderly"
],
[
"servant",
"servant"
],
[
"factotum",
"factotum"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, slang) An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1999, Kregg P. J. Jorgenson, The ghosts of the highlands: 1st Cav LRRPs in Vietnam, 1966-67, page 73",
"text": "Trading \"enemy flags\" for weapons proved to be an effective way of fulfilling some of the requirements, but the dog robber was still using his talents to obtain the more difficult to find items.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, G Holcomb, No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given, page 80",
"text": "Harbert was our dog robber (scrounger), had been since he joined the outfit in Guadalcanal.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Arthur Hood, The Ghost Cabin Mission, page 15",
"text": "He not only was very good at his job, he also was an old soldier and an accomplished dog robber, which.meant that his crew never lacked for any necessary equipment.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One whose role is to acquire scarce goods, from military equipment to liquor or perfume, often staying barely within the letter of the law."
],
"id": "en-dog_robber-en-noun-7xpoZE6I",
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"acquire",
"acquire"
],
[
"scarce",
"scarce"
],
[
"letter of the law",
"letter of the law"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, slang) One whose role is to acquire scarce goods, from military equipment to liquor or perfume, often staying barely within the letter of the law."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1959, Naval Review (London), volume 47, page 335",
"text": "My friend led the way, clad in his jodhpurs, on his trusty black stallion, and I followed, wearing 'dog-robbers' — both of us with haversacks containing our gear for a Spanish weekend.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1962, Monica Dickens, Man Overboard",
"text": "Then he got up with a sigh, changed into dog robbers and went into the town to get drunk.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Civilian clothing; mufti."
],
"id": "en-dog_robber-en-noun-9mEu-4H4",
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"Civilian",
"civilian"
],
[
"clothing",
"clothing"
],
[
"mufti",
"mufti"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, slang, in the plural) Civilian clothing; mufti."
],
"tags": [
"in-plural",
"slang"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-dog robber.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/14/En-au-dog_robber.ogg/En-au-dog_robber.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/En-au-dog_robber.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "dog robber"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with audio links"
],
"etymology_text": "There are many conjectures about the origin of this term, ranging from the peacetime occupation of the title character in The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, to the use of the term dog for enlisted men, hence someone who took the best of everything away from the dogs to give to the officers. The most likely conjecture is that it comes from a 19th-century term for a contemptible person who stole scraps of leftover food that would otherwise be fed to dogs.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "dog robbers",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "dog robber (plural dog robbers)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English derogatory terms",
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1900, McClure's Magazine - Volume 15",
"text": "Get out of my daylight, you dog-robber, or I'll walk the little horse around your neck like a three-ringed circus.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1910, Dane Coolidge, Hidden Water, page 125",
"text": "Waal—now! I tell you, boy, I knowed you—I knowed you the minute you called down that dog-robber of a barkeep",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1968, Vardis Fisher, Opal Laurel Holmes, Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West, page 421",
"text": "The whiffet of the Carpet Bagger's organ at Tucson appears to be spoiling for a newspaper fight with the Miner, but the Miner cannot lower its dignity and character, or neglect the interest of its supporters, by noticing so contemptible a blockhead, dog-robber, liar, and slanderer.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food."
],
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"contemptible",
"contemptible"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete, derogatory) A contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food."
],
"tags": [
"derogatory",
"obsolete"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1888, Felix Leopold Oswald, The Bible of Nature; Or, The Principles of Secularism, page 87",
"text": "If they would hire me for a dog-robber (a low menial), I would do it for a dime a day,\" he muttered, \" just for the chance to hear them talk.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1944, Rutgers Alumni Monthly - Volume 24, Issue 1, page 29",
"text": "I had a so-called dog-robber, a native boy who washed my clothes and cooked for me.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A menial; a low-level servant."
],
"links": [
[
"menial",
"menial"
],
[
"servant",
"servant"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) A menial; a low-level servant."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "dogsbody"
}
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English slang",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Military"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1892, Stanton P. Allen, Down in Dixie: Life in a Cavalry Regiment in the War Days, from the Wilderness to Appomattox, page 488",
"text": "He had detailed from his company a jovial Irish lad as orderly — the regular army name for the position is dog-robber.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, Clint Lamm, Tales From the Picket Line, page 103",
"text": "He had a pretty good assignment as the dog-robber, or orderly, for Lieutenant Friel.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, R.D. Bullard, Civil War III, page 13",
"text": "I'll call my dog robber and have him meet you there—I don't want either of these messages destroyed.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer."
],
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"officer",
"officer"
],
[
"orderly",
"orderly"
],
[
"servant",
"servant"
],
[
"factotum",
"factotum"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, slang) An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English slang",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Military"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1999, Kregg P. J. Jorgenson, The ghosts of the highlands: 1st Cav LRRPs in Vietnam, 1966-67, page 73",
"text": "Trading \"enemy flags\" for weapons proved to be an effective way of fulfilling some of the requirements, but the dog robber was still using his talents to obtain the more difficult to find items.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, G Holcomb, No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given, page 80",
"text": "Harbert was our dog robber (scrounger), had been since he joined the outfit in Guadalcanal.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Arthur Hood, The Ghost Cabin Mission, page 15",
"text": "He not only was very good at his job, he also was an old soldier and an accomplished dog robber, which.meant that his crew never lacked for any necessary equipment.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One whose role is to acquire scarce goods, from military equipment to liquor or perfume, often staying barely within the letter of the law."
],
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"acquire",
"acquire"
],
[
"scarce",
"scarce"
],
[
"letter of the law",
"letter of the law"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, slang) One whose role is to acquire scarce goods, from military equipment to liquor or perfume, often staying barely within the letter of the law."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English slang",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned",
"en:Military"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1959, Naval Review (London), volume 47, page 335",
"text": "My friend led the way, clad in his jodhpurs, on his trusty black stallion, and I followed, wearing 'dog-robbers' — both of us with haversacks containing our gear for a Spanish weekend.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1962, Monica Dickens, Man Overboard",
"text": "Then he got up with a sigh, changed into dog robbers and went into the town to get drunk.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Civilian clothing; mufti."
],
"links": [
[
"military",
"military"
],
[
"Civilian",
"civilian"
],
[
"clothing",
"clothing"
],
[
"mufti",
"mufti"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(military, slang, in the plural) Civilian clothing; mufti."
],
"tags": [
"in-plural",
"slang"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"politics",
"war"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-dog robber.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/14/En-au-dog_robber.ogg/En-au-dog_robber.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/En-au-dog_robber.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "dog robber"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.