dogleg

See also: dog-leg

English
WOTD – 31 July 2021

Alternative forms

Etymology
A dogleg (sense 1) is something with a sharp bend or turn in it, like the distinctive shape of the hind leg of a dog.
A dogleg staircase (sense 1.1) in Mentmore Towers, Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
Diagrams showing doglegs (sense 1.2) in holes in golf courses. The one on the left is called a dogleg left, and the other a dogleg right.
The standard warning sign for a dogleg intersection (sense 2) in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

The noun is derived from dog +‎ leg, referring to the shape of the hind leg of a dog.[1] The verb is derived from the noun.[2]

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdɒɡlɛɡ/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdɔɡˌlɛɡ/
  • Audio (GA)(file)
  • Hyphenation: dog‧leg

Noun

dogleg (plural doglegs)

  1. (also attributively) Something (such as a canyon or road) with a sharp bend or turn in it.
    1. (architecture) A configuration of stairs where a flight ascends to a half-landing before turning 180 degrees and continuing upwards.
    2. (golf, disc golf) A sharp bend in the fairway before reaching a hole.
  2. (US, also attributively) A single intersection consisting of two opposing T-junctions in close proximity; an intersection with a staggered cross street.
    • 1962 May, Arthur A., Jr. Carter, Increasing the Traffic-Carrying Capability of Urban Arterial Streets: The Wisconsin Avenue Study‎, Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Public Roads, page 39:
      The Q Street crossing of Wisconsin Avenue is an extreme example of such a location, the dog-leg itself being so long, about 150 feet, that in reality two T intersections exist.
    • 2009 July, Gateway Boulevard Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement‎, Washington, D.C.: Federal Highway Administration, page 3-6:
      At 4th Avenue and Korean Veterans Boulevard, the completion of Gateway Boulevard would correct the existing dog-leg intersection with Franklin Street.
    • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 15:
      McCormack had been stalking its corridors for months, turning down its dog-legs and dead ends, doubling back on himself.

Synonyms
  • (intersection consisting of two opposing T-intersections): staggered crossroads, staggered junction

Translations

See also

Verb

dogleg (third-person singular simple present doglegs, present participle doglegging, simple past and past participle doglegged)

  1. (intransitive) To bend in the shape of the hind leg of a dog, especially to turn and then turn back sharply to the original direction.
    • 2004 August 30, The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48, column 2:
      When the causeway doglegs and all of a sudden you spot sixteen roller coasters in the same place, it can take your breath away.

Translations

References
  1. “dogleg, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, November 2010; “dog-leg, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. “dogleg, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2012.

Further reading

Anagrams
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