dog in the manger
1
9.7
- idiom
- Offensive
:
perro del hortelano
- At the meeting, he acted like a dog in the manger, preventing anyone from using the resources he no longer needed.
Examples
-
I've been behaving like the worst kind of dog in the manger.
Fiction book (1990) -
Kennedy seems to display a dog-in-the-manger attitude toward auditing the machines' vote count: the GAB might not be able to do it, but Kennedy doesn't want anyone else to.
Blog text (3) -
Some people are such dogs in the manger; they refuse to share their toys even when they no longer play with them.
-
She was seen as a dog in the manger, stopping her colleagues from pursuing the promotion she had no interest in.
Synonyms
24
8.9
A person who keeps things and does not share them
A person who takes or keeps things that should be shared
How Selfish
23
5.1
- Offensive
1
9.7
458
1.0
24
3.8
46
4.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes the literal image of a dog occupying a feeding trough, so a learner who knows the words could infer that someone is blocking others from using something. However, extending that concrete image to the broader idiomatic meaning of petty spitefulness or denying others enjoyment of something one does not need requires cultural knowledge of the fable and is not fully predictable, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The idiom dog in the manger comes from an old fable about a dog that lies in a manger of hay and growls to keep the cows away, even though the dog cannot eat the hay. So, the phrase describes someone who 'stops others' from using or enjoying something they 'do not need' themselves.