English Explanatory Dictionary

wag the dog

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To divert negative political attention by use of a military operation.
  2. Used in a phrasal verb: the tail wags the dog: to control, as a minor part, a larger thing; to be the tail wagging the dog.

Pronunciation

En-au-wag the dog.ogg

Word forms

wag the dog wags the dog wagging the dog wagged the dog

Etymology

From the tail wagging the dog / the tail wags the dog, first used in the 1858 play, Our American Cousin. The shortened form with the political sense was popularized by the film Wag the Dog (1997).

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