Dog-eat-dog (from 1794) describes a situation in which people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed (although curiously it a corruption after Latin canis caninam non est, which asserted the opposite: that dog does not eat dog).

To throw or cast someone to the dogs (from 1556) is to send them to destruction or ruin, as is the later and now more common to go to the dogs (from 1619). In the oldest proverbs and phrases dogs are rarely depicted as faithful or as manвЂ™s best friend, but as vicious, ravening, or watchful. Vicious, ravening, and watchfulД«efore the eighteenth century, dogs other than the disdained lap-dog were usually kept not as household pets but for hunting, working, or guarding, and the language used to describe them often reflects this. Unlike hound, which has its origin in early Germanic languages and hence has many cognates in other European languages-German hund, Dutch hond etc.- dog is one of a number of English words for animals (all ending in вЂ“g) of obscure origin and without cognates in other European languages ( see вЂetymologyвЂ™) they include hog, stag, pig, and the second element of earwig. The word dog first occurs in Old English, but is less well-attested than the synonymous (and probably more formal and literary) hound, although it may have been common in non-literary and spoken contexts. The history of manвЂ™s relationship with the domesticated carnivorous mammal Canis familiaris is a long and complex one, and is reflected in the language used across the centuries to describe the dog and its world. Modern attitudes: laps, soaps, and shows.

Let sleeping dogs lie definition