dogsbody
A person who does menial work, a servantA person who does menial work, a servant.
» Sometimes an intern is just a dogsbody.
mccarras · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(Ireland, UK)A person who does menial work, a servant.
Handlanger, Diener, Scherge
- a worker who has to do all the unpleasant or boring jobs that no one else wants to do
Examples
2 sentencesSometimes an intern is just a dogsbody.
Tom is their dogsbody.
Translations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang (dog's body), originally derogatory refereFrom dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang (dog's body), originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.