dogleg

See also: dog-leg

English edit

WOTD – 31 July 2021

A dogleg (sense 1) is something with a sharp bend or turn in it, like the distinctive shape of the hind leg of a dog.

Diagrams showing doglegs (sense 1.2) in holes in golf courses. The one on the left is called a dogleg left, and the other a dogleg right.

The standard warning sign for a dogleg intersection (sense 2) in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

The noun is derived from dog +‎ leg, referring to the shape of the hind leg of a dog.^[1] The verb is derived from the noun.^[2]

dogleg (plural doglegs)

(also attributively) Something (such as a canyon or road) with a sharp bend or turn in it.
1. (architecture) A configuration of stairs where a flight ascends to a half-landing before turning 180 degrees and continuing upwards.
2. (golf, disc golf) A sharp bend in the fairway before reaching a hole.
(US, also attributively) A single intersection consisting of two opposing T-junctions in close proximity; an intersection with a staggered cross street.
- 1962 May, Arthur A., Jr. Carter, Increasing the Traffic-Carrying Capability of Urban Arterial Streets: The Wisconsin Avenue Study‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Public Roads, page 39:
  The Q Street crossing of Wisconsin Avenue is an extreme example of such a location, the dog-leg itself being so long, about 150 feet, that in reality two T intersections exist.
- 2009 July, Gateway Boulevard Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: Federal Highway Administration, page 3-6:
  At 4th Avenue and Korean Veterans Boulevard, the completion of Gateway Boulevard would correct the existing dog-leg intersection with Franklin Street.
- 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 15:
  McCormack had been stalking its corridors for months, turning down its dog-legs and dead ends, doubling back on himself.

(intersection consisting of two opposing T-intersections): staggered crossroads, staggered junction

something with a sharp bend or turn in it

configuration of stairs where a flight ascends to a half landing before turning 180 degrees and continuing upwards

(golf, disc golf) sharp bend in a fairway before reaching a hole

dogleg (third-person singular simple present doglegs, present participle doglegging, simple past and past participle doglegged)

(intransitive) To bend in the shape of the hind leg of a dog, especially to turn and then turn back sharply to the original direction.
- 2004 August 30, The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48, column 2:
  When the causeway doglegs and all of a sudden you spot sixteen roller coasters in the same place, it can take your breath away.

to bend in the shape of the hind leg of a dog