lucky dog
2
5.8
- noun
- /ˈlʌki dɔg/
- Informal
:
afortunado
- You must be a lucky dog to have won that contest.
- one lucky dog
Examples
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What a lucky dog to have such a sweet family.
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How did you manage that, you lucky dog?
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You must be a lucky dog.
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So long, you lucky dog.
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You lucky dog to have them both.
Blog text (28) -
It's a bone, you lucky dog!
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You fellows are sure lucky dogs.
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Yeah, that's one lucky dog to have found us.
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Oh, you lucky dog.
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You're a lucky dog.
Synonyms
A person who has good things happen to them
Antonyms
How Lucky
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'lucky' (fortunate) plus colloquial 'dog' used to refer to a person, so a learner who knows both words will readily interpret it as a person who has good fortune. This compositional, informal pattern is common cross-linguistically (e.g., 'lucky devil/fellow'), making it transparent to a B1 learner in context.
Etymology
Lucky dog may come from a simple picture: a street dog that finds food or a prize by chance and seems to get good things without trying. So calling someone a lucky dog means they 'have good luck'.