Sick as a dog


Very ill, especially from a stomach malady. For example, I don’t know what was in that stew but I was sick as a dog all night. This simile was first recorded in 1705. Why a dog should be viewed as particularly sick remains unclear.

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  • Sick at heart

    Grieving, very disappointed, dejected, as in We were sick at heart when we learned of her predicament. This idiom, which transfers heart disease to unhappiness, was first recorded in 1581.

  • Sickbay

    noun 1. a room or area for the treatment of the sick or injured, as on board a ship or at a boarding school sickbay sick·bay (sĭk’bā’) n. The hospital and dispensary of a ship. A place in which the sick or injured are treated.

  • Sick-bay

    noun 1. a hospital or dispensary, especially aboard ship.

  • Sickbed

    noun 1. the bed used by a sick person. sickbed sick·bed (sĭk’běd’) n. A sick person’s bed.

  • Sick building

    noun a poorly maintained, often older, office building in which the environment puts the occupants at risk for upper-respiratory conditions


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