to wake a sleeping dog
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
See LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE, above. Try it on the dog! A jocular phrase used o medicine that is expected to be unpalatable, or of food that is suspected of being not quite fit for human consumption.
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 “to wake a sleeping dog” mean?
See LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE, above. Try it on the dog! A jocular phrase used o medicine that is expected to be unpalatable, or of food that is suspected of being not quite fit for human consumption.
Is “to wake a sleeping dog” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.