Etymology
Probably from dog + -rel (“pejorative suffix”), akin to Dog Latin, late 14th c.
Adjective
doggerel (not comparable)
- (poetry) Of a crude or irregular construction.
1677 (date written), John Dryden, “Prologue”, in The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC:True Wit has ſeen its best days long ago, / It ne're look'd up, ſince we were dipt in Show: / When Senſe in Dogrel Rimes and Clouds was loſt, / And Dulneſs flouriſh'd at the Actors coſt.
Translations
of a crude or irregular construction
Noun
doggerel (countable and uncountable, plural doggerels)
- (poetry) A comic or humorous verse, usually irregular in measure.
- (by extension) Any writing of crude composition.
1977 December 17, Andrew R. Weiss, “Kudos For Cagan”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 24, page 4:It is very rare to find good, personal analysis of events that does not degenerate into chest-beating, pettiness, pomposity, or political doggeral [sic].
References
- doggerel in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- “doggerel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “doggerel”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- "doggerel" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
- “doggerel”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)