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general::
1. Do less than is required; loaf or shirk. For example, I'm afraid our donors are dogging it this year. This expression originated in sports and soon was transferred to other endeavors. [Slang; c. 1900] 2. Move slowly, as in We just dogged it along from California to Oregon. 3. Run away, as in Let's dog it out of here right now. This usage originated in American underworld slang in the 1920s, where it meant "to back down in cowardly fashion," and acquired its present sense about 1930. 4. Same as PUT ON THE DOG.
American Heritage Idioms