double dog dare

• double-dog dare, double-dog-dare

An emphatic extension of double dare, perhaps playing on the alliterative and forceful nature of the word dog.

double dog dare (third-person singular simple present double dog dares, present participle double dog daring, simple past and past participle double dog dared)

1. (colloquial) Intensified form of dare.
   • 1893, Hubert Anthony Shands, Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi, page 71:

     "In Mississippi dare and double dog dare are used by children in quarreling. Dog dare and double black dog dare I never have heard.

   • 2003–4, Sarah Dessen, How to Deal (or That Summer, respectively):

     "She'd do anything if you double dog dared her." "Double dog dared?" I said. "Yeah." She sat up, plunking another stack of pictures into my hands.

   • 2004, Fannie Flagg, Standing in the Rainbow, page 17:

     Besides, he and Monroe had double-dog-dared each other to climb it, so there was no turning back. Secretly both of them were a little nervous. Scared that they might chicken out at the last minute.

   • 2005, David Chapman, ‘til Summer Comes, page 74:

     Edward Jay Roberts didn't get to be an acknowledged leader without three necessary assets: brains, guts, and an almost unnatural absence of fear. No one ever double-dog-dared him anything, because one dare was always sufficient.

   • 2005, Stephanie Work, The Witching Season, page 6:

     I had been double dog dared. Maybe if Edward had just dared me, I could have chickened out. Now, there was no turning back.

   • 2006, Max Lucado, Next Door Savior, page 126:

     Double-dog daring his enemies to prove him otherwise, Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58).

   • 2008, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, Suck Your Stomach in and Put Some Color on, page 110:

     Someone once wrote in to my radio show and double-dog dared me to address a certain issue on the porch. Their suggestion isn't important to our discussion, but their complete mishandling of the double-dog dare is very alarming.

   • 2009, Dakota Cassidy, The Accidental Human, page 88:

     She'd dare anyone to say Heath wasn't a real man after that almost-kiss last night. Double dog dare them. But she held her tongue. "No, I'm serious. He's a new recruit." "Shut. Up. A dude who wants to sell makeup?" Wanda could understand Nina's astonishment.

   • 2010, Dana Marie Bell, Dare to Believe, page 10:

     Mandy was the one who'd double-dog dared Ruby to go out with Bobby in the eleventh grade, though she'd long since apologized. She'd dared Ruby to get even when Bobby had bragged all over school that he'd "scored, but she was a lousy fuck".

   • 2010, Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black: One Year in a Women's Prison, page 12:

     After a skinny-dip, Nora dared me — double-dog-dared me, to be precise — to jump off the falls, which were at least thirty-five feet high. “Have you seen people jump?”

double dog dare (plural double dog dares)

1. (colloquial) An intensified form of a dare, frequently used after the dared person initially refuses.