Dictionary

dog robber en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, obsolete) A contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food.
   • “Waal—now! I tell you, boy, I knowed you—I knowed you the minute you called down that dog-robber of a barkeep" 1910, Dane Coolidge, Hidden Water, page 125:
   • 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. 1968, Vardis Fisher, Opal Laurel Holmes, Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West, →ISBN, page 421:
   • Get out of my daylight, you dog-robber, or I'll walk the little horse around your neck like a three-ringed circus. 1900, McClure's Magazine - Volume 15:
2. (obsolete) A menial; a low-level servant.
   • I had a so-called dog-robber, a native boy who washed my clothes and cooked for me. 1944, Rutgers Alumni Monthly - Volume 24, Issue 1, page 29:
   • 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. 1888, Felix Leopold Oswald, The Bible of Nature; Or, The Principles of Secularism, page 87:
3. (slang) An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer.
   • He had detailed from his company a jovial Irish lad as orderly — the regular army name for the position is dog-robber. 1892, Stanton P. Allen, Down in Dixie: Life in a Cavalry Regiment in the War Days, from the Wilderness to Appomattox, page 488:
   • I'll call my dog robber and have him meet you there—I don't want either of these messages destroyed. 2011, R.D. Bullard, Civil War III, →ISBN, page 13:
   • He had a pretty good assignment as the dog-robber, or orderly, for Lieutenant Friel. 2001, Clint Lamm, Tales From the Picket Line, →ISBN, page 103:
4. (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.
   • 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. 1999, Kregg P. J. Jorgenson, The ghosts of the highlands: 1st Cav LRRPs in Vietnam, 1966-67, →ISBN, page 73:
   • 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. 2011, Arthur Hood, The Ghost Cabin Mission, →ISBN, page 15:
   • Harbert was our dog robber (scrounger), had been since he joined the outfit in Guadalcanal. 2003, G Holcomb, No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given, →ISBN, page 80:
5. (in-plural, slang) Civilian clothing; mufti.
   • Then he got up with a sigh, changed into dog robbers and went into the town to get drunk. 1962, Monica Dickens, Man Overboard:
   • 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. 1959, Naval Review (London), volume 47, page 335:

Forms

Synonyms

dogsbody