Tail which wags the dog

Word of the Day. Meanings Meanings. Examples Origin Usage. Slang dictionary wag the dog or the tail wagging the dog What does wag the dog mean?

What's hot. Where does wag the dog come from? Choose a dictionary. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Grammar Thesaurus. Word Lists. Choose your language. My word lists. It is unclear exactly where this phrase originated, but all of the earliest uses of it appear in U. People use this expression to show a reversal of the normal role: a case when a component controls the whole.

Here is an example that involves two college students discussing the first day of their new classes. Harry: Not great. How do you use wag the dog in a sentence? Word of the day. Redefine your inbox with Dictionary. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.