Word.ws English Dictionary

seeing a man about a dog

seeing a man about a dog is the present participle and gerund of see a man about a dog.

Meaning of see a man about a dog

Verb

see a man about a dog (third-person singular simple present sees a man about a dog, present participle seeing a man about a dog, simple past saw a man about a dog, past participle seen a man about a dog)

  1. (dated, idiomatic) Used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly (euphemistic) to use the toilet or (historical) drink alcohol.
    • I'll be right back, but I've got to go to see a man about a dog.
    Synonyms:
    a man, a man about a horse, a man about the plumbing, use the toilet, urinate

Questions about seeing a man about a dog

What is seeing a man about a dog the present participle and gerund of?
Seeing a man about a dog is the present participle and gerund of see a man about a dog.

Words near seeing a man about a dog in the dictionary

  1. Seeheim
  2. seein
  3. seein'
  4. seeing
  5. seeing a man
  6. seeing a man about a dog
  7. seeing a man about a horse
  8. seeing a way clear to
  9. seeing a wolf
  10. seeing about
  11. seeing after

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: seeing a man about a dog (page history and authors); see a man about a dog (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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Cite this entry: “seeing a man about a dog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seeing_a_man_about_a_dog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.