Dogberry

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See also: dogberry

English

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Etymology

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From Dogberry, the name of a character in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1600).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɒɡbəɹi/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɡˌbɛɹi/, /ˈdɑɡˌbɛɹi/

Noun

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Dogberry (plural Dogberries)

  1. A pompous, foolish or self-important official. [from 19th c.]
    • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 333:
      It would be interesting to know how many village Dogberries there were like Thomas Law, the constable of Quendon, Essex, whose reaction in 1651 on being informed of a robbery was to call on the astrologer, William Hills, ‘with an intent to hear what he might say, so that he might make his search accordingly’.

Derived terms

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