two men and a dog

two men and a dog

1. Synonym of one man and his dog (“almost nobody; very few people”)
   • 2011, C. I. Hamilton, The Making of the Modern Admiralty: British Naval Policy-Making, →ISBN:

     By present-day standards, of course, these count as just two men and a dog, but were a remarkable concentration for the day, certainly far beyond anything to be found in the private sector. In actual numbers the staff had not much changed since the amalgamation of 1850, but there had been a significant accretion in skills. And the improvement was to continue, both in numbers and quality.

   • 2014, Sophie Weston, The Bedroom Assignment, →ISBN:

     But Jay wouldn't let him help out, even when the business was just two men and a dog to begin with.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see two,‎ men,‎ dog.

• Eric Partridge (2005) “two men and a dog”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN.