Dictionary

hangdog en · ADJ

Etymology

From hang + dog.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Low; sneaking; ashamed.
   • Adam Sandler hangdog in the Levi’s Stadium stands, Jon Bon Jovi mooching on the sideline like a retired dentist on a cruise, Billie Joe Armstrong belting out American Idiot during the pre-game show under his motionless meringue of fogey-blond hair: were they a sign? 2026 February 9, Aaron Timms, “Bad Bunny and jingoism lite: was this the Super Bowl where woke roared back?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • He looked at them in a kind of dread, not daring to ask for details; and he observed that they, too, looked as though they had been in a battle; something hangdog in their looks suggested that they had been put to flight. 1953, James Baldwin, “The Seventh Day”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:
   • The poor colonel went out of the room with a hangdog look. 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond:
   • Asper Argo, the Well-Beloved, Commdor of the Korellian Republic greeted his wife’s entry by a hangdog lowering of his scanty eyebrows. To her at least, his self-adopted epithet did not apply. Even he knew that. 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 16, page 180

Translations (4)

pl zawstydzony (sneaking; ashamed) · bg гузен (sneaking; ashamed) · bg виновен (sneaking; ashamed) · mnw ကျာဲကၠဵု (sneaking; ashamed)

hangdog en · NOUN

Etymology

From hang + dog.

Meanings

1. A base, degraded person.

Forms

Deriveds

hangdoggish · hangdoggy

Synonyms

crack-hemp · gallows bird · gallows · wag-halter · crack-rope · hempie · sneak · hangdog · hang dog · slip-halter · scapegallows · gallows bird

Translations (4)

pl nędznik (A base, degraded person) · bg подлец (A base, degraded person) · pl nędznica (A base, degraded person) · bg обесник (A base, degraded person)

hangdog en · VERB

Etymology

From hang + dog.

Meanings

1. To move or loiter in a sneaking or ashamed manner.
   • Just a few stragglers left hangdogging around, latchkey types with no place to be, cutting up in the dim and bleachered gym perimeter. 2017, David Eric Tomlinson, The Midnight Man, page 37:
   • With a twenty-one to three victory, Pinewood high-stepped it off the field while our Falcons hangdogged their way to the locker room. 2012, Wendy Delsol, Flock, page 230:

Forms