Etymology: Origin uncertain. Compare Middle Dutch, Dutch dogger kind of fishing boat (1599 in Kiliaan with reference specifically to a boat used in fishing for flatfish and herring; 1607 with reference to cod), deep-sea fisherman (1727), either < dog , †dogge , probably ‘kind of fish, cod’ (1514 in ten dogge varen to go or sail for dogge; of unknown origin; perhaps compare dog n.¹ 4) + -er -er suffix¹, or < English dogger . Compare also Icelandic dugga (1413 in fiski-duggur (plural) with reference to English fishing boats; compare the reference to Iceland in quot. 1491 at sense 1), and Old Danish dogger (Danish dogge ). Compare earlier dogdrave n.Cod, as well as herring and flatfish, are usually caught in bag-like nets, hence compare also Dutch doggher sling, small bag, net (1599 in Kiliaan), although it is uncertain whether this underlies the word for the boat, or whether it is secondary or even formed independently. Compare also 1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Dogger ofte Buysse, A Fishers Boat.1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Dogger, A Sling or casting net, or, also a Satchell. The name of the ship type was apparently sometimes interpreted as deriving directly < dog n.¹ + -er suffix¹. The semantic reasons for this are unclear, but compare cat n.² and the foreign-language parallels cited at that entry. Compare also the following:1671 S. Skinner & T. Henshaw Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ Dogger, Navicula a nom. Dog, vel quod vile est Navigium.., vel quod propter parvitatem, eoque levitatem, instar Canis venatici valde celer est [‘Dogger, a small ship from the noun dog, either because it is a poor ship, or because on account of its speed and lightness it is very fast like a hunting dog’]. The following (which appears to cite a 16th-cent. source, although this has not been traced) shows a different explanation, as a name punning (in Latin) on classical Latin canis dog and post-classical Latin Dunkercanus from Dunkirk, person from Dunkirk, on the supposition that the type of boat originated there:1854 Notes & Queries 1st Ser. 10 219 Looking over Sir Thomas Smith's treatise De Republicâ Anglicanâ lately, I came upon a passage..offering a derivation for..a Species of Ship..: ‘Dunkercani insignem navem construxerunt Doggam (id est Canem) a se appellatam.’ The first element of Dogger Bank (see Dogger Bank n. at Compounds 2) is apparently either this word (English dogger ) or Dutch dogger . Compare Dutch Doggersbank (1782 or earlier; earlier as Doggerszand ). With dogger-sands n. at Compounds 2 compare Dutch Doggerszand (1659 with specific reference to the Dogger Bank; compare earlier dogger sand white sandbank (1599 in Kiliaan)) and also:1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Dogger-zandt, A Shelve of white sand, or, a Quicksand in the Sea.

Etymology: < dog v.¹ + -er suffix¹. Compare later dogger n.⁵

Etymology: Probably < dog n.¹ + -er suffix¹, although the reason for the name, and the motivation for the suffixation, are unclear; compare cat-head n. 2, also first recorded in this meaning in quot. 1670 at sense 1. In sense 2b after German Dogger ( A. Oppel Juraformation Englands, Frankreichs u. des südwestlichen Deutschlands (1858) 817).

Etymology: < dog n.¹ + -er suffix¹.

Etymology: Probably < dog v.¹ (compare sense 1a at that entry) + -er suffix¹. Compare earlier dogger n.², and later dogging n.²Quot. 2002 apparently shows a folk etymology.