a dog's life
1
7.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
vida de perro
- Although he worked hard in his youth, he now leads a dog's life full of relaxation.
Examples
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People were commenting on the value of a dog's life, congratulating the team for the rescue, and, of course, offering opinions on how an effort to save the dog off the mountain was tied to liberal or conservative politics.
Blog text (25) -
Some people think that living in a big house with a pool is a dog's life.
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After years of hard work, she finally reached a point where she enjoys a dog's life.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
a + dog's + life
Knowing 'dog' and 'life' yields only the literal 'life of a dog' and does not predict the idiomatic meaning (typically a miserable or, less commonly, a pampered/easy life). The phrase is an idiomatic/metaphorical expression with cultural variation, so a B1 learner who knows the parts but hasn't seen the expression would not reliably derive its meaning.
Etymology
The phrase a dog's life came from old pictures of dogs living on the street, hungry and working hard, so it used to mean 'a difficult and unhappy life'. Later, when many dogs lived in houses and were kept warm and fed, people sometimes used it to mean 'a very comfortable life'.