water dog
- noun
- /ˈwɔːtər dɔɡ/
:
amante del agua
- My brother is such a water dog that he learned how to surf before he could ride a bike.
Examples
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You can always spot a water dog by their constant enthusiasm for the beach or swimming pool.
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As a true water dog, she spends every summer weekend at the lake.
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She is a true water dog!
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My brother is such a water dog.
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As a true water dog, she spends every summer weekend at the lake.
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My brother is such a water dog that he learned how to surf before he could ride a bike.
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You can always spot a water dog by their enthusiasm for the beach or swimming pool.
Synonyms
A person who likes being in water or on a boat
How Water-Loving
Surface Forms
Morphology
water + dog
The meaning 'a dog trained to work in or around water' is directly and transparently derivable from combining 'water' and 'dog'—a common compounding pattern where the first noun specifies the domain or function of the second. This straightforward compositional logic is cross-linguistically common (e.g., 'perro de agua' in Spanish) and would be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Water dog comes from the image of a dog that loves water and happily swims and plays by the shore. People who spend a lot of time swimming or boating were compared to that dog, so the phrase means 'someone who loves being on the water'.