Name, and he’ll soon be hanged. Spoken of those who raise an ill Name on a Man on
purpose to prevent his Advancement. 1803 Norfolk (Virginia) Herald 14 Apr. 3 It is an
old saying, ‘give a dog a bad name and hang him’. 1928 G. B. SHAW Intelligent
Woman’s Guide to Socialism lvii. The Liberal impulse is almost always to give a dog a
bad name and hang him: that is, to denounce the menaced proprietors as enemies of
mankind, and ruin them in a transport of virtuous indignation. 2002 Times: Weekend 20
July 4 Give a dog a bad name seems to have become a workaday motto for the wine trade.
And the sillier the name on the bottle, the less chance there is of anything drinkable
inside. reputation; slanderDOG does not eat dogCf. VARRO De Lingua Latina VII. 32 canis caninam non est, a dog does not eat dog’s
flesh.
1543 W. TURNER Hunting of Romish Fox A2V The prouerb.. on dog will not eat of
an other dogges fleshe. 1790 ‘P. PINDAR’ Epistle to Bruce 31 Dog should not prey on
dog, the proverb says: Allow then brother-trav’lers crumbs of praise. 1866 C. KINGSLEY
Hereward the Wake II. xi. Dog does not eat dog and it is hard to be robbed by an
Englishman, after being robbed a dozen times by the French. 1933 F. D. GRIERSON
Empty House viii. Dog doesn’t eat dog, my dear fellow. To put it more politely, the
physician attends his brother practitioner without charge. 1993 ‘c. AIRD’ Going Concern
(1994) viii. 67 ‘Apparently Harris and Marsh’ve been trying for a takeover of
Chernwoods’ for quite a while now.’ ‘I always thought that dog doesn’t eat dog,’ objected
Leeyes. ‘But I suppose I’m old-fashioned.’ reciprocityEvery DOG has his day1545 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) 63 A dogge hath a day. 1600–1
SHAKESPEARE Hamlet v. i. 286 Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will
mew, and dog will have his day. 1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & English s.v.
Fevrier, Euerie dog hath his day. 1726 POPE Odyssey V. xxii. Dogs, ye have had your
day; ye fear’d no more Ulysses vengeful from the Trojan shore. 1837 CARLYLE French
Revolution III. I. i. How changed for Marat, lifted from his dark cellar!.. All dogs have
their day; even rabid dogs. 1863 C. KINGSLEY Water Babies ii. Young blood must have
its course, lad, And every dog his day. 1978 ‘M. CRAIG’ Were He Stranger x. ‘She could
be his sister.’ ‘No way—not with a face like that.’ ‘Well, every dog deserves his day.’
opportunity, taken; successEvery DOG is allowed one bite