英和和英

語源 1

From prairie +‎ dog, after their yelping alarm calls.

名詞

prairie dog (plural prairie dogs)

1. Any member of the genus Cynomys, small, stout-bodied burrowing rodents with shallow cheek pouches, native to North America and Central America.

   Synonym: sod poodle (nickname, Texas)

下位語

• (Cynomys): Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni), white-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys leucurus), black-tailed prairie dog, (Cynomys ludovicianus), Mexican prairie dog (Cynomys mexicanus), Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens)

Further reading

• prairie dog on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cynomys on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Cynomys on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• prairie dog in Mammal Species of the World at Bucknell.

語源 2

By analogy with the animal's unburrowing behavior.

別の表記

• prairie-dog

動詞

prairie dog (third-person singular simple present prairie dogs, present participle prairie dogging, simple past and past participle prairie dogged)(idiomatic, ambitransitive)

1. To pop up from a hole or analogous orifice in a manner that resembles the way a prairie dog pops its head up from its burrow.

   Near-synonym: emerge

   • 2017, Kory Stamper, Word By Word, Vintage, published 2018, page 11:

     People prairie-dog over the tops of their cubicles and call to their co-workers: “Hey, you going for a walk at lunch today?”

2. (by extension, slang, euphemistic or vulgar) To struggle to hold back an imminent bowel movement.

   Synonyms: turtle head, grow a tail, crown, touch cotton

   • 2001, Andy Breckman, directed by Jerry Zucker, Rat Race‎, Jillian Marie (Kimberly Pear), Jon Lovitz (Randy Pear, “Dad”), and Brody Smith (Jason Pear) (actors):

     Kimberly: [needs to go to the bathroom] Dad, I'm prairie dogging it!
     Dad: What the hell does that mean?
     Jason: You know, like when a prairie dog sticks his head in and out of the ground.
     […] Dad: Ohh, god, I do not wanna picture that!

   • 2008, Adrien Clautrier with Rowe, Henry and Mack, Lindsay, Dirty French: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!"‎, Berkeley: Ulysses Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 54:

     I'm about to crap my pants.
     Je vais me faire au froc.
     I'm prairie-dogging it.
     J'ai le cigare au bout des lèvres.
     Literally, “the cigar is at the edge of my lips”.

   • 2009, Brian J. Baker, Yuck! ...That Guy Didn't Wash His Hands!: The Complete Guide to the American Man's Bathroom Experience‎, American Bathroom Experience, →ISBN, page 150:

     […] Postin' Up On the Blaster / Power Dump / Prairie-Dogging it / Press a Loaf Purp […]

   • 2011, David, Jr. Rivera, Harlem's Dragon: The Love You Can't Fight‎, Largo: Strebo Books, →ISBN, page 162:

     “Oh, God stop, stop,” Kat said, holding her side, “I'm starting to prairie dog.” […] “You know, prairie dogging,” Kat said, trying to explain between breaths. “When it pokes its head out of the hole and then back in, out and in, out and in.”

   • 2011, Alan Moore et al., Visionaries (Vampirella Masters Series)‎, volume 4 (graphic novel), Dynamite Entertainment, →ISBN, page 97:

     Once these kids come here today trick or treating, they are gonna get a mouthful — and a pant full — / Crappin their shorts all the way into next week... teach them to screw with their elders... they’ll be touching cotton / Yeah those little bastards will be prairie dogging it all the way home!

     Said by a grumpy old man while lacing his Halloween treats with laxatives.