# prairie dog

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/prairie-dog
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To pop up from a hole or similar in a manner that resembles the way a prairie dog pops his head up from his burrow.

## Examples

- The kids prairie dog over the fence to watch the game.
- I prairie dog to check if the bus is finally coming down the street.
- You prairie dog from your desk when you hear someone mention your name.
- During the boring lecture, students kept prairie dogging to see if the teacher was still at the front.
- Whenever the office door opens, the employees prairie dog over their cubicle walls to see who is walking into the room.
- The neighbors often prairie dog above their garden hedges when they hear a loud noise coming from the neighbor's yard.
- From their foxholes, the soldiers prairie dogged, scanning the horizon for any sign of movement before ducking back down.

## Origin

The term arises by analogy with the rodent's habit of abruptly extending its head from a burrow to survey the surroundings. The visual correspondence between the animal's vigilant posture and the sudden appearance of a human head over an office cubicle partition or similar barrier provided the basis for the comparison.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.