bandog

English

Etymology

From band +‎ dog.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbandɒɡ/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

bandog (plural bandogs)

1. (archaic) A dog that has been tied up; a mastiff or other kind of guard dog.
   • 1808, Joseph Strutt, [Walter Scott], “Section [IX]. Chapter II.”, in [Walter Scott], editor, Queenhoo-Hall, a Romance: And Ancient Times, a Drama. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for John Murray, […]; and Archibald Constable & Co. […], →OCLC, pages 48–49:

     The horsemen spreading themselves along the side of the cover, waited untill the keeper entered, leading his ban-dog; a large blood-hound tied in a leam or band, from which he takes his name.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

     Patriots may smile; and, using him [ Jean-Paul Marat ] as bandog now to be muzzled, now to be let bark....

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 934:

     The guns on the fortress responded, but the small calibre made them sound as if they were yapping like bandogs while the bombers bayed and gave tongue like hounds in cry.

2. (specifically) A type of large, ferocious dog, bred by crossing American pit bull terriers with Neapolitan mastiffs.
3. (figurative, literary) Something that or someone who pursues doggedly.
   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 89:

     He escaped from that experience confounded, horrified, and conscious of degradation. Those infernal bandogs of the law had treated him as a piece of insensate property to their drivelling mumbo-jumbo, as if mere contact with it had robbed him of all rights to the dignity and integrity of his own ego.

4. (obsolete, slang, cant) A bailiff or prison guard.

Alternative forms

• band-dog, ban dog

Translations

guard dog — see guard dog

American pit bull terrior and Neapolitan mastiff cross

• Finnish: amerikanbandoggi
• Polish: bandog (pl) m

Anagrams

• Badong, Bogdan, dongba