prairie dog

plural prairie dogs

1. Any member of the genus Cynomys, small, stout-bodied burrowing rodents with shallow cheek pouches, native to North America and Central America.

   Synonyms: sod poodle

present singular third person prairie dogs · participle present prairie dogging · participle past prairie dogged · past prairie dogged · alternative prairie-dog

1. ambitransitiveidiomaticTo pop up from a hole or analogous orifice in a manner that resembles the way a prairie dog pops its head up from its burrow.

   Near-synonym: emerge

   1 more example

   People prairie-dog over the tops of their cubicles and call to their co-workers: “Hey, you going for a walk at lunch today?”

   2017, Kory Stamper, Word By Word, Vintage, published 2018, page 11

2. ambitransitivebroadlyeuphemisticidiomaticslangvulgarTo struggle to hold back an imminent bowel movement.

   […] Postin' Up On the Blaster / Power Dump / Prairie-Dogging it / Press a Loaf Purp […]

   2009, Brian J. Baker, Yuck! ...That Guy Didn't Wash His Hands!: The Complete Guide to the American Man's Bathroom Experience, American Bathroom Experience, →ISBN, page 150

   4 more examples

   Kimberly: [needs to go to the bathroom] Dad, I'm prairie dogging it! Dad: What the hell does that mean? Jason: You know, like when a prairie dog sticks his head in and out of the ground. […] Dad: Ohh, god, I do not wanna picture that!

   2001, Andy Breckman, directed by Jerry Zucker, Rat Race, Jillian Marie (Kimberly Pear), Jon Lovitz (Randy Pear, “Dad”), and Brody Smith (Jason Pear) (actors)

   I'm about to crap my pants. Je vais me faire au froc. I'm prairie-dogging it. J'ai le cigare au bout des lèvres. Literally, “the cigar is at the edge of my lips”.

   2008, Adrien Clautrier with Rowe, Henry and Mack, Lindsay, Dirty French: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!", Berkeley: Ulysses Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 54

   “Oh, God stop, stop,” Kat said, holding her side, “I'm starting to prairie dog.” […] “You know, prairie dogging,” Kat said, trying to explain between breaths. “When it pokes its head out of the hole and then back in, out and in, out and in.”

   2011, David, Jr. Rivera, Harlem's Dragon: The Love You Can't Fight, Largo: Strebo Books, →ISBN, page 162

   Once these kids come here today trick or treating, they are gonna get a mouthful — and a pant full ^([sic]) — / Crappin ^([sic]) their shorts all the way into next week... teach them to screw with their elders... they’ll be touching cotton / Yeah those little bastards will be prairie dogging it all the way home!

   2011, Alan Moore et al., Visionaries (Vampirella Masters Series), volume 4 (graphic novel), Dynamite Entertainment, →ISBN, page 97

   Synonyms: turtle head, grow a tail, crown, touch cotton