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dog in the manger
[ dawg in thuh meyn-jer, dog ]
noun
- a person who selfishly keeps something that they do not really need or want so that others may not use or enjoy it.
dog in the manger
noun
- a person who prevents others from using something he has no use for
- ( as modifier )
a dog-in-the-manger attitude
dog in the manger
- A person who spitefully refuses to let someone else benefit from something for which he or she has no personal use: “We asked our neighbor for the fence posts he had left over, but, like a dog in the manger, he threw them out rather than give them to us.†The phrase comes from one of Aesop's fables , about a dog lying in a manger full of hay. When an ox tries to eat some hay, the dog bites him, despite the fact that the hay is of no use to the dog.
Other ˜yÐÄvlog Forms
- »å´Ç²µ-¾±²Ô-³Ù³ó±ð-³¾²¹²Ô·²µ±ð°ù adjective
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of dog in the manger1
Idioms and Phrases
One who prevents others from enjoying something despite having no use for it. For example, Why be a dog in the manger? If you aren't going to use those tickets, let someone else have them . This expression alludes to Aesop's fable about a snarling dog that prevents horses from eating fodder that is unpalatable to the dog itself. [Mid-1500s]Example Sentences
He is not deluded or proud or murderous, just a dog in the manger, a grim Taliban-like puritan who has banned laughter.
The crusaders had their already somewhat familiar backlashes against this 16-year-old climate activist all ready to go, and then this absolute dog in the manger goes and ruins it for them.
It seemed like every time I ran into Gary he said he was about to quit, but he didn’t quit—playing dog in the manger, in my exasperated view.
A muzzled dog’s paw rests on his master’s foot, like a proverbial dog in the manger whose potential for interference has been thwarted.
Don't think I'm a dog in the manger.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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