doggerel
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Probably from dog + -rel (“pejorative suffix”), akin to Dog Latin, late 14th c.
Pronunciation
Adjective
doggerel (not comparable)
- (poetry) Of a crude or irregular construction.
- 1677, John Dryden, “Prologue”, in The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: , London: R. Bentley, and M. Magnes, , published 1680, →OCLC:
- True Wit has ſeen its best days long ago, / It ne're look'd up, ſince we were dipt in Show: / When Senſe in Dogrel Rimes and Clouds was loſt, / And Dulneſs flouriſh'd at the Actors coſt.
Usage notes
The word was originally applied to humorous verse, but now refers to verse lacking artistry or meaning.
Translations
of a crude or irregular construction
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Noun
doggerel (countable and uncountable, plural doggerels)
- (poetry) A comic or humorous verse, usually irregular in measure.
- 1894, George du Maurier, “Part Sixth”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 302:
- Taffy drew a long breath into his manly bosom, and kept it there as he read this characteristic French doggerel (for so he chose to call this touching little symphony in ère and ra).
- 1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter VIII, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 86:
- As he marched he sang a bit of doggerel in a high and quavering voice: / "Sing a song 'a vic'try, / A pocketful 'a bullets, / Five an' twenty dead men / Baked in a—pie."
Translations
comic or humorous verse
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References
- doggerel in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- “doggerel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “doggerel”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- "doggerel" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
- “doggerel”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)
