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Glite Dictionary
yapping dog

yapping dog

1 3.5
A dog that barks loudly again and again in an annoying way
  • noun
translation icon : perro ladrador

Examples

  • - That yapping dog that peed... ...all over my new couch.

    Halloween II (2009)

  • He's like a tiny yapping dog that never shuts up.

    Blog text (9)

  • Yapping dogs, satiated and emboldened, roamed the camp, restless, barking and skittish at any attempt by the soldiers to make friends.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Doris and Marlene also had one of those little yapping dogs, a corgi or something, named Bernice Neptcong, M.D.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The yapping dog kept barking at every passerby.

  • I couldn't concentrate on my work because of the yapping dog next door.

  • Whenever someone walks by, the yapping dog starts making a racket.

Synonyms

barker
vsyapping dog
  • Informal
5 7.7

A dog that keeps making loud noises

focuses on sharp, persistent, irritating barking rather than mere frequency
yapper
vsyapping dog
  • Informal
1 6.9

A small dog that barks a lot and loudly

focuses on sharp, persistent, irritating barking not the animal size

How Noisy

howling
47 4.1
yapping dog
1 3.5
barker
  • Informal
5 7.7

Surface Forms

yapping dog singular
yapping dogs plural

Morphology

yap + dog

The phrase is compositionally built from 'yap' (to bark sharply) and 'dog' so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer 'a dog that yaps' — i.e., a small, noisy, barking dog. This uses a regular participial adjective pattern (yapping dog) common in English and other languages, making the meaning transparent.

Etymology

Yapping dog comes from the sound word yap, which copies the quick, sharp barks small dogs make. Because yapping is loud and often repeated, the phrase now means 'a dog that barks in an annoying, persistent way'.