Cur"tail dog` (dŏg`; 115). A dog with a
docked tail; formerly, the dog of a person not qualified to
course, which, by the forest laws, must have its tail cut short,
partly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail is
necessary to a dog in running; hence, a dog not fit for
sporting.
Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs.
Shak.