dog's bollocks

English

Alternative forms

  • dog's ballocks

Etymology

So named because of the resemblance of the typographical combination of a colon and a hyphen or dash, :—, to the penis and testicles of a dog.

Noun

dog's bollocks pl (plural only)

  1. (typography, punctuation mark, vulgar) The name of the punctuation construction :— used to represent a restful pause in reading a text.[1] The construction itself is proscribed.[2]
  2. (Britain, vulgar slang) Something that is regarded as outstanding.
    That new flat screen TV you bought is the dog's bollocks.

Synonyms

(slang: the best): ballocks, the bee's knees, the business, the cat's pyjamas

References

  1. dog, n. §dog's bollocks, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, January 2015.
  2. Trask, Larry. "The Colon". University of Sussex.
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