dogtrot

English

Etymology

From Middle English dogge trot; equivalent to dog +‎ trot.

Noun

dogtrot (plural dogtrots)

1. A steady trotting motion similar to that of a dog.
2. (architecture, Southern US) A breezeway, open passageway, or open hallway between two sections of a house.
   • 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:

     Old Billy Dill and his ugly wife and son are sitting together in the dogtrot.

   • 2007, Allen George Noble, Traditional Buildings: A Global Survey of Structural Forms and Cultural Functions‎^[1] (Architecture), I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 34:

     The dogtrot was protected from the rain and, because its front and back were open, the Bernoulli principle provided a cooling effect ...

3. (architecture, Southern US) A type of house with an open breezeway or hallway between two sections of a house.
   • 2007, Allen George Noble, Traditional Buildings: A Global Survey of Structural Forms and Cultural Functions‎^[2] (Architecture), I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 33:

     One Appalachian solution to the problem of adding needed living space to an existing small cabin was the dogtrot, sometimes called the dogrun, possum trot, two pens-and-a-passage, double house, or erroneously the double pen.

Verb

dogtrot (third-person singular simple present dogtrots, present participle dogtrotting, simple past and past participle dogtrotted)

1. To move at the pace of a dogtrot
   • 1989, Sue Grafton, "E" is for Evidence (Fiction), Crimeline, →ISBN:

     The stewardess released us like a pack of noisy school kids and I dogtrotted toward the gate.

Adjective

dogtrot (comparative more dogtrot, superlative most dogtrot)

1. (architecture, Southern US) The design or form of house with an open breezeway or hallway between two sections of a house
   • 1977, Charles van Ravenswaay, The Arts and Architecture of German Settlements in Missouri‎^[3], reprint edition (History), University of Missouri Press, published 2006, →ISBN, page 131:

     If America can claim any significant development in log construction, it might be the dogtrot cabin, … Henry Glassie believes that the dogtrot form developed in the southern Tennessee Valley area ...

See also

• breezeway on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dogtrot house on Wikipedia.Wikipedia