Dogberry

See also: dogberry

English

Etymology

From Dogberry, the name of a character in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1600).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒɡbəɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɡˌbɛɹi/, /ˈdɑɡˌbɛɹi/

Noun

Dogberry (plural Dogberries)

1. A pompous, foolish or self-important official. [from 19th c.]
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 333:

     It would be interesting to know how many village Dogberries there were like Thomas Law, the constable of Quendon, Essex, whose reaction in 1651 on being informed of a robbery was to call on the astrologer, William Hills, ‘with an intent to hear what he might say, so that he might make his search accordingly’.

Derived terms

• Dogberryism