attack dog
nounDefinition of attack dog
1
: a dog trained to attack on command or on sight
2
: a person noted for harsh, personal, and usually public verbal attacks against others
a political attack dog
—usually hyphenated when used before another noun attack-dog tactics
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Examples of attack dog in a Sentence
The charges against the candidate were made by one of the governor's attack dogs.
his reputation as a political attack dog earned him the vice presidential spot on the ticket
Recent Examples on the Web
These would-be slaughterers end up being slaughtered by Dalton and his stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who employ an attack dog, a flame thrower, and a myriad of household objects that get slammed into faces. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, "Quentin Tarantino’s Ultimate Statement on Movie Violence," 2 Aug. 2019 Another increasingly prominent legal attack dog is Los Angeles lawyer Charles Harder, who famously sued the gossip website Gawker into extinction on behalf of the nominal plaintiff, Hulk Hogan. — Ben Widdicombe, Town & Country, "How Much Does It Cost to Keep Your Name Out of the News?," 18 Jan. 2019 The first known use of an attack dog to bite an inmate to get him out of his jail cell in Oregon amounts to an excessive use of force, a federal lawsuit filed Monday alleges. — Maxine Bernstein, OregonLive.com, "Former inmate bitten by police dog files $500,000 lawsuit against Columbia County," 14 May 2018 Animal Services said the attacking dogs were in the care of a dog walker hired through an app. — Houston Chronicle, "Houston parks where your dog can be a dog," 10 May 2018 So, Fudge's sample ballot drew a strong rebuke from Dennis Kucinich's campaign, whose lawyer and attack dog, Marty Gelfand, complained to the Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. — Mark Naymik, cleveland.com, "May 8 primary's big winners and big losers: Mark Naymik," 9 May 2018 The plan, according to Barrett, is to bring in sniffer and attack dogs and to increase the ranger force. — Tristan Mcconnell, GQ, "The Bloody Toll of Congo's Elephant Wars," 16 Apr. 2018 And then this, in which the Times agrees with Stephen: Mr. Cohen served as part fixer, part attack dog for Mr. Trump. — Monique Judge, The Root, "Donald Trump is the Great Value Frank Underwood. Michael Cohen is His Doug Stamper," 11 Apr. 2018 Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, attack dog, and fixer, may very well find himself in that situation today. — Cristian Farias, Daily Intelligencer, "FBI Raids Show the Investigation of Michael Cohen Is No ‘Witch Hunt’," 10 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'attack dog.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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