What does doggery mean?
Doggery is an archaic English noun denoting contemptible or vulgar people regarded as a group — the rabble, the riffraff, the common herd as seen through scornful eyes. By extension it can describe conduct worthy of a cur: servile, cowardly, or otherwise ignoble behavior. The word was formed in the early modern period by adding the suffix '-ery' to 'dog,' much as 'roguery' and 'knavery' were built, giving it an inherently disparaging flavor. It appears most often in the writings of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, where authors used it to express class disdain or moral censure. Today doggery is essentially obsolete outside historical texts, and encountering it signals either antiquated diction or deliberate stylistic effect. Readers who meet it should understand it as a pointed insult aimed at a collective rather than at any single person.
Contemptible or vulgar people regarded collectively; the rabble.
"The pamphleteer railed against the doggery that had seized control of the assembly."
Archaic; strongly pejorative and class-marked.
Base, servile, or cowardly behavior characteristic of a cur.
"Submitting to that ultimatum would have been pure doggery."
A less common extended sense, likewise obsolete in everyday use.
Rarely pluralized, since the word typically denotes a collective; the plural appears only occasionally in older texts when referring to distinct groups or instances.
"The essayist catalogued the various doggeries of the age, from the gaming houses to the bear-baiting pits."
'Doggery' lets you insult an entire crowd in a single word — and it's been doing so since the 1600s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of doggery
Doggery derives from the Middle English word 'dog,' whose ultimate origin is uncertain but well established in Germanic languages, combined with the suffix '-ery,' which forms nouns denoting a class of persons or their characteristic behavior. It took shape in English during the early 17th century, alongside parallel formations such as 'roguery' and 'knavery.' Its relatives within the dog family include 'dogged' (stubborn) and 'doggerel' (crude verse), both of which draw on the same canine root.
How doggery is actually used
Doggery is archaic and rare in modern English, surviving mainly in historical literature from the 17th through 19th centuries. It carries a strongly pejorative, class-conscious connotation and would sound quaint or affected if used today.
Easily confused with doggery
Doggerel is comically crude or irregular verse, whereas doggery refers to contemptible people or base, cur-like behavior.