Scooby-Doo

plural Scooby-Doos · alternative Scooby Doo

1. An American cartoon franchise, named for one of the main characters, a large dog, and featuring as protagonists four "meddling" teenagers who unravel seemingly supernatural mysteries.

   "I love the Scooby-Doo of it all." And it was fun, combing through old books and papers for recognizable names.

   2010, Buzzy Jackson, Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist, Simon and Schuster, page 171

   3 more examples

   I knew I had to be very careful when I was crafting the story, so that it wouldn't be a Scooby Doo moment—you know, the one where the villain rips off his mask and tells you why he did it—and that he would have gotten away with it, if not for those pesky kids!

   2007, Jodi Picoult, "Reader's Companion" (Washington Square Press) to the author's Plain Truth (Simon and Schuster, 2000) p.414

   A mile out of town, off the Combe Martin road, discover a real Scooby Doo experience at Chambercombe Manor. It's shrouded in ghost stories and has starred in TV shows about the paranormal.

   2008, Simon Heptinstall, Devon (Crimson Publishing) page 137

   It was a Scooby-Doo moment: everybody looks down, everybody looks up. Maddy looks surprised. Pat looks guilty. Oh, those meddlesome kids.

   2010, J. Wachowski, In Plain View, Carina Press, page 314

2. The cartoon dog from that cartoon, noted for his trouble-causing lack of sense and almost understandable vocalization.

   It was like she was talking to me. Not barking, not growling. More of a Scooby Doo sort of thing.

   2008, Gabriella Herkert, Doggone: An Animal Instinct Mystery, Penguin, page 17

   2 more examples

   And trying to sell him on carrots when he's yearning for Scooby-Doos poses a challenge similar to selling George W. Bush on tax increases.

   2007, Judith Viorst, Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days, Simon and Schuster, page 28

   Zack chose to work with “Ronald Reagan,” which is very Zack; at one point I think he almost convinced Ronald to speak in a Scooby-Doo accent.

   2009, Douglas Coupland, Generation A, Simon and Schuster, page 76

plural Scooby-Doos · alternative Scooby Doo

1. slangA Subaru automobile.

   For the journey home, you'd take the Scooby-Doo. Now, though, everything has changed. The new Subaru is about as much fun as a church service. And it doesn't look good in photographs because, like me, it doesn't look good at all.

   2012, Jeremy Clarkson, Round the Bend

2. slangA clue.

   It was past ten o'clock at night and I hadn’t a Scooby-Doo where I was. After a tough twelve-hour day in the saddle, cycling more than 130 miles through rain, wind and sleet, I was tired, soaked through and miserable.

   2016, Chris Graham, Five Minutes of Amazing: My Journey Through Dementia, London: Sphere, →ISBN, page 1

3. in pluralslangA shoe.
4. slangA screw (a prison warder)

   There are some 32 different terms for prison officers, from the humorously affectionate kanga (rhyming slang:kangaroo = screw) and the variants Scooby-Doo and Dr. Who via the mildly confrontational German (as if still the enemy over 50 years after World War II!) to the outright abuse of shit-parcel.

   1996, Angela Devlin, Prison Patter, Waterside Press, →ISBN