Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Shamefaced or guilty.
- adj. Downcast; intimidated.
- n. A sneaky or despicable person.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A degraded and sneaking fellow, fit only to be a hangman of dogs.
- Of or pertaining to such a person; having a base or sneaking appearance: as, a hangdog look or gait.
Wiktionary
- n. A base, degraded person; a sneak; a gallows bird.
- adj. Low; sneaking; ashamed.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A base, degraded person; a sneak; a gallows bird.
- adj. Low; sneaking; ashamed.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. frightened into submission or compliance
- adj. showing a sense of guilt
Examples
“I'm an Obama supporter, but that WaPo piece on "hangdog" pictures was a cheap shot at Clinton -- esp since hers was the only "hangdog" picture shown.”
“Tamara put on an abject expression, tilting her head in a hangdog way.”
“They were mostly short, hangdog-cheerful men in shabby suits.”
“One of the small, hangdog-cheerful men had leapt over, torn his jacket off and was attempting to cover the janitor with it.”
“Lauria's Vince is a hangdog, anguish-filled man in a skinny tie, short-sleeved shirt and thick glasses, a coach who screams at everyone and watches game film until the wee hours.”
The Huffington Post: Will Broadway's 'Lombardi' Be A Touchdown?
“One of the stand-out performances came from Joe Wilkinson, whose appearances as hangdog, sexually frustrated neighbour Dan provided some of the biggest laughs.”
“As in, if you've sent me a dozen emails in the past month, please don't write me a thirteenth sounding all hangdog because I've only answered one or two.”
"Look at everything around us. Look at everything we've done."
“So you can scoff and snicker all you like at the shaggy, hangdog 27-year-old next door dressed in a baggy college sweatshirt and cargo shorts, taking empty pizza boxes and beer bottles to the dumpster.”
The Wall Street Journal: Two Cheers for the Maligned Slacker Dude
“He headed down the corridor with the hangdog air of someone losing his buzz, pausing only to focus his thoughtful gaze back on Aidan.”
“Aidan finally turned to face his cousin, the pathetic hangdog expression on his face almost humorous.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hangdog’.
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metaphoric references to dogs
As an ongoing part of my project, Dogs in Metaphor and Idiom, Illustrated, (www.metaphordogs.org) I am continually adding terms. If you know a term that fi...
dog, alpha male, at bay, bark, bird dog, bitch, bitchin, bloodhound, bulldog, canaille, canines, cerberus and 130 more...
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Fearlobes
EEK! Emotion words and words associated with fear. Let's avoid -phobia words.
terrified, threatened, paralyzed, afraid, tormented, frightened, scared, blench, worried, cowardly, fretful, menaced and 57 more...
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Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Down in the dumps, feeling blue? Here, then, is a list for you...
feeling blue, down in the dumps, blue devils, mulligrubs, mubblefubbles, melancholy, lugubrious, gloomy gus, eeyore, doleful, woeful, woebegone and 86 more...
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Dusty Pejoratives
landlubber, blatherskite, hangdog, spurious, flibbertigibbet, ragamuffin, cumberground
yarb But paying through the nose was not the worst of it; for I had the vexation to perceive, that while I was counting over the cost, this hang-dog was chuckling at the recollection of the night before.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 1 ch. 2 Sep 11, 2008
brtom "BLOOM (Shuddering, shrinking, joins his hands with hangdog mien.)"
Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Feb 8, 2007