# What does 'dog-sick' mean?

'Dog-sick' means as sick as a dog — violently ill. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), human-proofread transcription on English Wikisource records: “Sick as a dog. We also say "Sick as a cat." The Bible speaks of dogs "returning to their vomit again" (Prov. xxvi. 11; 2 Pet. ii. 22).”

## What it means

- Verbatim from Brewer's (1898): Sick as a dog. We also say "Sick as a cat." The Bible speaks of dogs "returning to their vomit again" (Prov. xxvi. 11; 2 Pet. ii. 22).

## Action steps

1. Modern usage: 'Dog-sick' means as sick as a dog — violently ill.
2. When quoting the origin, cite Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — this is a 19th-century record, not a modern etymology.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Wikisource proofread text](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_Dictionary_of_Phrase_and_Fable/Dog-sick)

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