a dirty dog
Preserved but no longer current.
One morally filthy; one who talks and acts nastily. In the East the dog is still held in abhorrence, as the scavenger of the streets. "Him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat" (1 Kings xiv, 1 1).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “a dirty dog” mean?
One morally filthy; one who talks and acts nastily. In the East the dog is still held in abhorrence, as the scavenger of the streets. "Him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat" (1 Kings xiv, 1 1).
Is “a dirty dog” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.