house-dog
A dog kept to guard the house; a watch-dog; a domestic dog.
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 7 ¶4 She..was..almost frighted out of her Wits by the great House-dog. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. xii. (1891) 250 To love with reasonable subordination their whole family, from their husband to the house dog. 1882 Ouida In Maremma I. 24 Of a fox never can you make a house-dog. |
| fig. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xl, Briggs was the house-dog whom Rebecca had provided as guardian of her innocence and reputation. |