Word.ws English Dictionary

dogs in the manger

dogs in the manger is the plural of dog in the manger.

Meaning of dog in the manger

Noun

dog in the manger (plural dogs in the manger or dogs in mangers)

  1. (idiomatic) Someone who denies to others something that the denier cannot use.
    • No adjective is strong enough for characterizing this wicked dog-in-the-manger policy. From various sources I hear tales of such wanton destruction of nations' property in all parts of India.1930, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, “Notes on the Way to Dandi”, in Non-Violent Resistance, page 246

Questions about dogs in the manger

What is dogs in the manger the plural of?
Dogs in the manger is the plural of dog in the manger.

Words near dogs in the manger in the dictionary

  1. dogs have masters, cats have staff
  2. dogs have masters; cats have staff
  3. dogs have owners, cats have staff
  4. dogs in blankets
  5. dogs in mangers
  6. dogs in the manger
  7. dogs it
  8. dogs of war
  9. dogs out
  10. dogs that caught the car
  11. dogs' dinners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dogs in the manger (page history and authors); dog in the manger (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.

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