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sausage dog

sausage dog

3.5
A small dog with a long body and short legs
  • noun
  • /ˈsɔsɪdʒ dɔg/
  • UK
translation icon : perro salchicha
  • At the park, I saw a little sausage dog running after a ball.

Examples

  • The sausage dog wiggled its tail excitedly when it saw its owner.

  • - Isn't it a sausage dog?

  • My friend just adopted a cute sausage dog that loves to play fetch.

Synonyms

dachshund
vssausage dog
15 4.4

A small dog with a long body, short legs, and long ears bred to hunt animals in burrows

is the informal term used instead of the formal breed name
wiener dog
vssausage dog
  • Informal
1 3.1

A small dog with a long body and short legs often kept as a pet

is identical in meaning and also informal in use
doxie
vssausage dog
  • Informal
1 9.1

A small dog with short legs and a long body

is identical in meaning and also informal in use
sausage hound
vssausage dog
  • UK
7.7

A small dog with a long body and short legs, a dachshund

is identical in meaning and also informal in use
dachsie
vssausage dog
  • UK
9.5

A small dog with a long body and short legs, like a dachshund

is identical in meaning and also informal in use

Surface Forms

sausage dog singular
sausage dogs plural

Morphology

sausage + dog

This noun-noun compound is directly compositional: 'sausage' describes the dog's shape and 'dog' names the animal, so a learner who knows both words can infer a long, short-legged dog (a dachshund). The metaphorical shape comparison is straightforward and follows common compounding patterns, making the meaning immediately derivable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Sausage dog The compound noun sausage dog comes from the animal's long, thin body that looks like a sausage on short legs. One popular story says people used that clear picture to name the small dog, so today sausage dog means 'dachshund'.