mutt

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
In American English, a mutt is a mixed breed dog.

View all »
Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Informal A mongrel dog.
  2. noun Informal A stupid person; a dolt.
  3. Word History
    Clipping not of sheep but of a word having to do with sheep has given us our term mutt for a mongrel dog. Clipping or abbreviating words, a standard process of word formation, sheared mutt from muttonhead, a pejorative term meaning "a stupid person” based on the notion that sheep are stupid. Mutt in its first recorded use in 1901 is used in the same senses as muttonhead, but it is soon recorded (1904) as a term of contempt for a horse and then (1906) for a dog. We can be reasonably certain that the New Yorker critic writing in 1970 that "The cast includes a Sheepdog, . . . a Mutt Bitch,” had no awareness that a sheepdog would make the ideal mutt.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • “What kind of mutt is that?” an eleven- or twelve-year-old with a sandy mop of Rasta hair asked me. —  4th ofJuly - Patterson
  • Nothing but a mutt, a New Orleans fence-jumper, but he had lots of Catahoula hound in him -- whitish-brownish fur and eyes that were pale pale blue, almost silver. —  F ;SF; - vol 104 issue 04 - April 2003
  • What brings you here Marty was trying to decide the best way to answer that question when a mangy gray mutt, as fat as Hagerman was thin, pushed open the screen door and slumped onto the porch. —  AnalogSFF,June2007
  • A smart mutt, a sophisticated mutt maybe, but a mutt all the same. —  Step on a Crack by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
  • For that kind of mutt, ten grand can be a lot of dough. —  Gone by Lisa Gardner
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 86 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

armoire · quixotic · enthusiastical · Dachau · sweetbread

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile · an sionnach i gcraiceann na caorach · lavar puercos con jabón es perder tiempo y jabón · procrastinate · its not like im ugly people tell me im pretty