Meaning of curtail dog | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A dog with a docked tail; formerly, the dog of a person not qualified to course, which, by the forest laws, must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail is necessary to a dog in running.
   obsolete
2. A dog not fit for sporting.
   broadly, obsolete

Examples

“Oh that I were but King of France for fourscore or a hundred years! By G--, I should whip like curtail-dogs these runaways of Pavia.”

“Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs.”

CEFR level