yellow dogn.
/ˌjɛləʊ ˈdɒɡ/, U.S. /ˌjɛloʊ ˈdɔɡ/, /ˌjɛloʊ ˈdɑɡ/ Chiefly U.S.
1.
a. A dog, esp. a mongrel, of a yellowish colour.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > defined by colour
brindle1710
yellow dog1746
tricolour1905
iron-grey1928
particolour1961
1746 George Faulkner Dublin Jrnl. 26–30 Aug. Strayed the latter End of July..a little yellow Dog of the Dutch Kind, with a black Muzzle.
1788 P. M. Freneau Misc. Wks. 123 At last we approached the wigwam, as I discovered by the barking of a yellow dog, who ran out to meet us.
1840 Daily Pennant (St. Louis) Apr. 20 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. (1912) One of those interesting animals, a yellow dog, with a bullet-hole through his breast.
1861 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner I. iii. 52 A ‘yallah dog’ is a large canine brute, of a dingy old-flannel color, of no particular breed except his own.
1895 B. Harte Clarence iii. iii. 263 In Illinois we wouldn't hang a yellow dog on that evidence.
1946 C. R. Knight Life through Ages 38/2 When a number of our homebred varieties are allowed to mix freely, the offspring will be, as a rule, an upright-eared, medium-sized ‘yellow dog’.
1998 H. Strachan Way Up Way Out vi. 109 A pack of yellow dogs with curly tails.
b. U.S. colloquial. A worthless or contemptible person.
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society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > [noun] > person
swaina1150
ladc1300
loon1535
blue coat1583
gaffer1589
snake1590
meaner1596
frock1612
groundling1630
frock-man1657
coolie1803
simple1824
yellow dog1862
Harry1874
smock-frock1898
1862 ‘M. Carleton’ Victoria xxxi. 116/2 That yellow dog, that I would strangle if I had him near me, that Lawyer Sweet.
1881 E. W. Nye Bill Nye & Boomerang 166 The presiding officer had lost control, and a surging crowd of yellow dogs had the floor.
1924 A. J. Small Frozen Gold i. 44 Understand, I won't allow no yellow dog of a Siwash to step over me.
1994 R. Hendrickson Happy Trails 188 Pull, you yellow dog, and be prepared for Hell!
2. U.S. Politics. Originally: a political candidate, esp. one lacking qualifications or experience, who is expected to win an election based on voters' loyalty to a particular party; spec. (in later use) a Democratic candidate of this kind. Now chiefly: a steadfast supporter of the Democratic Party, esp. one from a southern state. Cf. Compounds 1b.With reference to the sentiment that some voters are so loyal that they will vote for a yellow dog if it is on the ticket (see, e.g., quots. 1880 and 1883).
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society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > candidate > type of
vote collector1888
coupon candidate1918
primarian1918
yellow dog1927
1880 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 8 May 6 In most of the counties of Iowa, where the party is strong enough, as a disgusted Democrat said to me the other day, ‘to elect a yellow dog’, Republicans can afford, perhaps, to revel in sentiment, peacocks, and plumes.
1883 N.Y. Times 11 Mar. 1/5 ‘Why, we could nominate yellow dogs this Spring and elect every one upon the ticket by a big majority,’ said one of the Democratic ward statesmen to-day.]
1927 Pella (Iowa) Chron. 7 July 3/3 If only the people who vote after considering came out, some of the poorest ‘yellow dogs’ on the ticket might get turned down now and then.
1940 Daily Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland) 11 Oct. 6/1 I have been a Republican all my life and have worked for and voted the ticket, yellow dogs and all.
1969 Arizona Republic 13 Apr. 7/1 Yuma County has elected the proverbial yellow dogs election after election if they were on the Democratic ticket.
1992 Newsweek 9 Mar. 35/1 Southern politics is more than blacks, Bubbas, Bubbarettes and yellow dogs—diehard Democrats who'd vote for a yellow dog before a Republican.
2000 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 24 Sept. 1 a They come from a long line of Yellow Dogs, distrustful of liberals, Northern liberals in particular. Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis never had a chance in Polk County.
Compounds
C1. † a. U.S. attributive with the sense ‘designating a worthless or fraudulent banknote, esp. one issued by a bank with little or no capital; of or relating to such notes’, as yellow dog money, yellow-dog note, etc. Cf. red dog n. 1. Obsolete.
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1875 Chicago Tribune 26 Aug. 4/1 The grand mass-meeting in Detroit in favor of cheap imitation money of the ‘blue-pup’ and ‘yellow dog’ variety proved to be a wretched failure.
1876 Van Wert (Ohio) Weekly Bull. 21 Apr. The small silver change that had continued in use through the previous eras of ‘stump-tail’, ‘wild-cat’, and ‘yellow-dog’ paper-money disappeared.
1894 Southern Planter Apr. 216/1 People were defrauded by ‘yellow-dog’ notes.
1913 J. T. Stewart Indiana County Pennsylvania I. xxxv. 530 It [sc. fraudulent paper currency] was also called ‘yellow dog money’ because it resembled that kind of animal, which was always worthless.
b. U.S. Politics. attributive with the sense ‘of, relating to, displaying, or characterized by extreme party loyalty, esp. of a kind in which political candidates are voted for regardless of their qualifications or experience. In later use esp. with reference to the Democratic Party, esp. in yellow-dog Democrat.With reference to the sentiment that some voters are so loyal that they will vote for a yellow dog if it is on the ticket (see, e.g., quots. 1880 and 1883 at sense 2).
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1883 Allegany County (Wellsville, N.Y.) Reporter 1 Nov. 1/4 The little ‘yellow dog’ newspapers of the county.
1885 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 3 Mar. 3/2 I..allway vote the democratic tickett straight and if there is A yellow dog or A Comanchee Indian on the Bottom of the tickett I vote for them two I am called the yellow dog democrat of Cole county.
1886 Los Angeles Daily Times 8 Sept. The Express and the bosses say: ‘You must vote for the bad man because we say so.’ The Times, however, has not yet reached the ‘yellow-dog’ stage.
1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 204 He could not carry a single state in the East where there are any large centerings of capital or enterprise—not even our yellow-dog states.
1941 T. Wallace in H. L. Ickes Freedom of Press Today 254 Much greater disservice was that of yellow-dog newspapers, long ago, which saw no evil or error in their man—because he was their man.
1982 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman 15 Apr. 88/1 The blacks, the browns, the white liberals and the Yellow Dog Democrats.
2001 New Republic (Nexis) 11 June 8 At the point where it actually makes a difference, politics is not merely about lofty principles or yellow-dog partisanship.
2013 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 12 May a17 [He] describes himself as the last ‘left-leaning yellow-dog white Democrat in the state of Mississippi’.
c. North American. attributive with the sense ‘characterized by, characteristic of, or relating to an employer working against the rights and interests of employees, esp. by opposition to or obstruction of trade unionism’. Now historical.See also yellow dog contract n. at Compounds 2.
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society > occupation and work > worker > those involved in labour relations > [adjective] > opposed to militant action or unionism
yellow dog1894
yellow1901
1894 R. Kipling in Cent. Mag. Dec. 297/1 America's paved with the kind er horse you are—jist plain yaller-dog horse waitin' ter be whipped inter shape.
1902 Mine Workers' Jrnl. July 1 A yellow dog lease.
1950 Jrnl. Politics 12 66 Neither nation nor state could regulate ‘wages and hours’, or ban yellow dog practices.
1956 Mag. of Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Oct. 32/2 It was the latest form of the yellow-dog clause, one in which the employee agrees to refrain from engaging in a competing occupation for five years.
2016 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 14 Jan. a8 An outfit of the sort formerly known in Canadian trade union circles as a ‘yellow dog’ union.
C2.
yellow dog contract n. U.S. (now historical) a contract between a worker and an employer in which the worker agrees not to remain in or join a union; cf. Compounds 1c.
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1920 Motorman & Conductor Oct. 34 A yellow dog contract.
1930 Sun (Baltimore) 6 May 12/2 The ‘yellow dog’ contract, requiring men to barter away their right to organize as the price of a job.
2003 G. I. Lovell Legislative Deferrals iii. 69 Elected officials in Congress appeared to signal their strong disapproval of yellow-dog contracts and discrimination against union members.
yellow dog fund n. U.S. (now historical) a concealed fund used to bribe or influence the action of a person or group; esp. a fund of this kind held by an insurance company; cf. slush fund n. b.
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1905 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 7 Sept. 1/4 The committee's inquiry into..the Equitable scandal, especially the particular investigation into that ‘yellow dog fund’.
1954 Mich. Alumnus Q. Rev. Feb. 132/1 Wade also kept a secret ‘yellow-dog’ fund derived from fines and other blind sources.
2013 P. Grondahl These Exalted Acres 96 A slush fund used to lobby and bribe legislators on bills favorable to the industry that became known as ‘the yellow dog fund’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1746