dog robber

There are many conjectures about the origin of this term, ranging from the peacetime occupation of the title character in The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, to the use of the term dog for enlisted men, hence someone who took the best of everything away from the dogs to give to the officers. The most likely conjecture is that it comes from a 19th-century term for a contemptible person who stole scraps of leftover food that would otherwise be fed to dogs.

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dog robber (plural dog robbers)

1. (obsolete, derogatory) A contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food.
   • 1900, McClure's Magazine - Volume 15:

     Get out of my daylight, you dog-robber, or I'll walk the little horse around your neck like a three-ringed circus.

   • 1910, Dane Coolidge, Hidden Water, page 125:

     “Waal—now! I tell you, boy, I knowed you—I knowed you the minute you called down that dog-robber of a barkeep"

   • 1968, Vardis Fisher, Opal Laurel Holmes, Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West, →ISBN, page 421:

     The whiffet of the Carpet Bagger's organ at Tucson appears to be spoiling for a newspaper fight with the Miner, but the Miner cannot lower its dignity and character, or neglect the interest of its supporters, by noticing so contemptible a blockhead, dog-robber, liar, and slanderer.

2. (obsolete) A menial; a low-level servant.

   Synonym: dogsbody

   • 1888, Felix Leopold Oswald, The Bible of Nature; Or, The Principles of Secularism, page 87:

     If they would hire me for a dog-robber (a low menial), I would do it for a dime a day," he muttered, " just for the chance to hear them talk.

   • 1944, Rutgers Alumni Monthly - Volume 24, Issue 1, page 29:

     I had a so-called dog-robber, a native boy who washed my clothes and cooked for me.

3. (military, slang) An officer's orderly or servant; a factotum; Someone whose job is to run errands for an officer.
   • 1892, Stanton P. Allen, Down in Dixie: Life in a Cavalry Regiment in the War Days, from the Wilderness to Appomattox, page 488:

     He had detailed from his company a jovial Irish lad as orderly — the regular army name for the position is dog-robber.

   • 2001, Clint Lamm, Tales From the Picket Line, →ISBN, page 103:

     He had a pretty good assignment as the dog-robber, or orderly, for Lieutenant Friel.

   • 2011, R.D. Bullard, Civil War III, →ISBN, page 13:

     I'll call my dog robber and have him meet you there—I don't want either of these messages destroyed.

4. (military, slang) One whose role is to acquire scarce goods, from military equipment to liquor or perfume, often staying barely within the letter of the law.
   • 1999, Kregg P. J. Jorgenson, The ghosts of the highlands: 1st Cav LRRPs in Vietnam, 1966-67, →ISBN, page 73:

     Trading "enemy flags" for weapons proved to be an effective way of fulfilling some of the requirements, but the dog robber was still using his talents to obtain the more difficult to find items.

   • 2003, G Holcomb, No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given, →ISBN, page 80:

     Harbert was our dog robber (scrounger), had been since he joined the outfit in Guadalcanal.

   • 2011, Arthur Hood, The Ghost Cabin Mission, →ISBN, page 15:

     He not only was very good at his job, he also was an old soldier and an accomplished dog robber, which.meant that his crew never lacked for any necessary equipment.

5. (military, slang, in the plural) Civilian clothing; mufti.
   • 1959, Naval Review (London), volume 47, page 335:

     My friend led the way, clad in his jodhpurs, on his trusty black stallion, and I followed, wearing 'dog-robbers' — both of us with haversacks containing our gear for a Spanish weekend.

   • 1962, Monica Dickens, Man Overboard:

     Then he got up with a sigh, changed into dog robbers and went into the town to get drunk.

This term often has derogatory connotations, especially in older usage, but more recent texts are often quite neutral (and sometimes even complimentary) in tone.