dog in the manger
a person who selfishly keeps something that they do not really need or want so that others may not use or enjoy it.
Origin of dog in the manger
1Other words from dog in the manger
- dog-in-the-man·ger, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dog in the manger in a sentence
It becomes exceedingly easy for one road to play a dog-in-the-manger part.
Railroads: Rates and Regulations | William Z. RipleyIt wasn't really from the dog-in-the-manger spirit that the little woman acted.
My War Experiences in Two Continents | Sarah MacnaughtanIt was the dog-in-the-manger feeling which possesses coquettes of both sexes.
The Pearl of Orr's Island | Harriet Beecher StoweThe dog-in-the-manger bibliotaph is the worst; he uses his books but little himself, and allows others to use them not at all.
The Bibliotaph | Leon H. VincentA man oughtn't to be a dog-in-the-manger about a girl, even if he has got her promise, you know.
A Touch Of Sun And Other Stories | Mary Hallock Foote
British Dictionary definitions for dog in the manger
a person who prevents others from using something he has no use for
(as modifier): a dog-in-the-manger attitude
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for 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.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with dog in the manger
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]
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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