Dogbrier

( Bot. ) The brier that bears the hip; Rosa can in a. Dog'-cabbage, n. ( Bot. ) See DOG'S-CABBAGE. Dog'-cart, n. A carriage with a box for holding sportsmen's dogs; also, a sort of double-seated gig for four persons, those before and those behind sitting back to back. Dog'-cheap, a . Cheap as offal or dog's-meat; ridiculously low-priced. (Sometimes termed dirt -cheap.) "Good store, say you, and dog-cheap?"- Dryden. Dog'day Harvest-fly, n. ( Zool .) See CICADA. Dog'days, or CANICULAR DAYS, n. pl . ( Astron .) Canicula was the old name of the constellation Canis Minor, q. v. It was also used to denote Sirius or the Dog-Star, the largest and the brightest of all the stars, and which is situated in the mouth of Canis Major , q. v. From the Heliacal rising (q. v.) of the star Sirius the ancients reckoned their Dog-days, or Dies Caniculares , which were 40 in number-20 before, and 20 after, the rising of the star. The rising of the Dog-Star was ignorantly supposed to be the occasion of the extreme heat, and of the diseases incidental to these days. It was by mere accident that the rising of the star coincided with the hottest season of the year, in times and countries of the old astronomers. The time of its rising depends on the latitude of the place, and is later and later every year in all latitudes, owing to prece ion. In time the star will rise in the dead of winter.