Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Chiefly British Slang One who does menial work; a drudge.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK A
person who doesmenial work , aservant . - verb To act as a dogsbody, to do menial
work :
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a worker who has to do all the unpleasant or boring jobs that no one else wants to do
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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One of his first hires when he entered the Senate in 1977 was the equivalent of a parliamentary private secretary — a "dogsbody," in British parlance — whose task was to scour the press every day and then draft notes to anyone and everyone who might appropriately receive a comment or observation from a newly installed U. S senator who hoped to remain one for a long time.
A Born Controversialist By Charles Horner 2010
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Carl becomes a kind of dogsbody for the station staff, doing their bidding and absorbing their wisdom.
Marshall Fine: Huff Post Review: Pirate Radio plays the hits - and misses 2009
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In the early part of the 20th century, "dogsbody" came to mean the guy who gets the crap jobs.
Archive 2005-05-01 Douglas Hoffman 2005
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In the early part of the 20th century, "dogsbody" came to mean the guy who gets the crap jobs.
Word of the Week: Dogsbody Douglas Hoffman 2005
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I became a messenger, or I had a job called "desk assistant," which basically meant dogsbody at ABC News.
Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden 2001
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I am a combination of researcher, secretary, office girl, tea maker and general dogsbody.
Death of a Scriptwriter Beaton, M. C. 1998
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He chafed with annoyance at being treated as a dogsbody by the older apprentices, loathed their loose conversation, and felt he was learning nothing.
'The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy: Books, Bodies, Fortune, Fame' 2009
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I wouldn't have missed it for the world, of course; I sorta felt I owed a bit of elbow grease given the work put in by the crew, and in truth it was kinda wonderful being a dogsbody rather than ...
Adventures of a Couch-Hopping Scribbler Part 2: That Toddlin Town Hal Duncan 2010
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I listened in vain for the urgent clatter of typewriters but all I got was cynical hard-bitten hacks hurling sexist abuse at the paper's lowly but idealistic dogsbody who, naturally, was the only one asking the right questions.
Rewind TV: Page Eight; The Conspiracy Files: 9/11 Ten Years On; The Field of Blood 2011
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International best-seller John Connolly has variously worked as a journalist, barman, local government official, waiter and a dogsbody at Harrods department store in London.
Jonathan Maberry Interviews International Best-seller, John Connolly 2009
brtom commented on the word dogsbody
Dogskull, dogsniff, eyes on the ground, moves to one great goal. Ah, poor dogsbody. Here lies poor dogsbody's body.
Joyce, Ulysses, 3
December 30, 2006
thtownse commented on the word dogsbody
Good word. Lie down.
May 24, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word dogsbody
wowf
May 24, 2010