Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
😠 An insult 🪖 A US soldier 🦋 A butterfly
dogface

dogface

1 9.9
An American soldier who fought on foot, especially during World War II
  • noun
  • /ˈdɔɡˌfeɪs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : soldado de infantería
  • During World War II, every dogface had to face the harsh realities of combat.
  • II dogfaces
  • War II dogfaces

Examples

  • He's just another dogface soldier in dirty-shirt blue.

    She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

  • I'm just another dogface who rode the G.I. Bill.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • "Ask any dogface on the line," one American soldier stated.

    Academic text (2002)

  • He's not the first dogface to die from a heart attack.

    The Big Red One (1980)

  • The veteran proudly referred to himself as a dogface, reminiscing about his service.

  • Many dogfaces shared their stories of bravery and sacrifice in the war.

Synonyms

doughboy
vsdogface
  • Archaic
1 9.9

An American soldier who fought in World War I

refers to American infantry soldiers who served mainly in World War II

Compounds

dogface expression
8.4

A face people make to look like a puppy when they ask for something

Surface Forms

dogface singular
dogfaces plural

Morphology

dogface = dog + face (opaque) = dog + face

The slang sense 'American infantry soldier' is a figurative/historical nickname that cannot be derived from the literal meanings of 'dog' + 'face'.

Etymology

Dogface became a slang name for American foot soldiers in World War II because people sometimes compared the tired, dusty look of these soldiers to a dog, so the word stuck as a nickname for infantrymen.