salty dog

English

Pronunciation

  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

From the salt of the sea. Compare old salt and seadog.

Sexual sense may be due to association of sailors with sexual promiscuity, or may be separate development, salty (“spicy”) and dog both suggesting promiscuity.

Noun

salty dog (plural salty dogs)

  1. (US, Navy, Marines) An experienced sailor.
    Synonyms: old salt, sea dog
  2. (US, slang, dated) A sexually promiscuous man; a male sexual partner.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:promiscuous man, Thesaurus:sexual partner
Translations

Etymology 2

From a greyhound (“gin and grapefruit juice cocktail”), plus salt, influenced by existing term.

Noun

salty dog (plural salty dogs)

  1. A cocktail consisting of gin or vodka, grapefruit juice, and a salt rim.
    • 2025 March 25, Sam Wiebe, The Last Exile: A Wakeland Novel‎[1], Harbour Publishing, →ISBN:
      But I felt frustrated after all that running around in traffic. What I had to show for it: a well-grilled salmon steak, a salty dog mixed stronger than riot punch, and a plane trip that never happened.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.