dog shot
dog shot noun: a sudden blow, especially when delivered without warning; a king hit; (rugby) a deliberate and potentially illegal late tackle.
Noun
dog shot (plural dog shots)
- A sudden blow, especially when delivered without warning; a king hit; (rugby) a deliberate and potentially illegal late tackle.
- Sam Burgess was sensationally accused of a "dog shot" by Mitchell Pearce as the South Sydney and Newcastle top-four clash erupted into the Friday night fights.2019 June 7, Christian Nicolussi, “Friday night fights as Sam Burgess accused of 'dog shot' by Pearce”, in The Sydney Morning Herald
- Leilua will spend four weeks on the sideline after his late high tackle on Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards that has been widely hailed a “dog shot”.2020 July 7, Matt Logue, “NRL 2020: Emotional Joey Leilua to bounce back from ‘dog shot’”, in The Daily Telegraph
Verb
dog shot (third-person singular simple present dog shots, present participle dog shotting, simple past and past participle dog shotted or dog shot)
- To deliver a dog shot to (someone); to hit (someone) suddenly and without warning; to king hit.
- "There were four separate spot-fights going on, [another staff member] got dog-shotted and then another security guard from the Criterion came over to help us too."2016 November 6, Eliza Wheeler, “NIGHTCLUB BRAWL: Staff say drugs were to blame”, in Fraser Coast Chronicle
- “Players don’t deserve to be dog shot in the back when they’re not looking,” Johns said.2018 June 1, “NRL greats unite to slam 'dog shot' tackles on playmakers”, in The Guardian
Forms of dog shot
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dog shots |
| alternative form | dog-shot |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dog shots |
| present participle | dog shotting |
| past participle | dog shotted |
| past | dog shotted |
| past participle | dog shot |
| past | dog shot |
Origin of dog shot
Probably related to the slang term dog (“coward”). Compare cheap shot (“deliberate, unsportsmanlike, and potentially illegal act of aggression”).
Questions about dog shot
- What does dog shot mean?
- Dog shot means a sudden blow, especially when delivered without warning; a king hit; (rugby) a deliberate and potentially illegal late tackle.
- What part of speech is dog shot?
- Dog shot can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of dog shot?
- The plural of dog shot is dog shots.
Words near dog shot in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dog shot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “dog shot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dog_shot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.