dog
noun [ C ]
uk/dɒɡ/ us informal
an investment, company, or product that will probably fail
MARKETING
a product that has a small share of a market that has a low rate of growth
Compare
Boston Matrix
dog eat dog informal
a situation in which competitors are willing to harm each other in order to be successful:
It is dog eat dog on Las Vegas's world-famous Strip as huge casino complexes compete for attention.
The fast-growing telecom industry was a dog-eat-dog world where firms were either looking to expand or ripe for takeover.
eat your own dog food informal
if a company eats its own dog food, it uses the products that it makes in its own business activities, rather than using products made by other companies:
The company, which makes high-tech equipment, could not have grown as fast as it has without eating lots of its own dog food.
go to the dogs informal (also US go to hell in a handbasket/handcart)
to get into a very bad situation:
The economy seems to be going to the dogs.
Signs of a global recession inevitably conjure up thoughts of the last time we went to hell in a handbasket: the Great Depression of the 1930s.
that dog won't hunt US informal
used to say that a plan will fail
See also
top dog