A character in Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare.

He is a highly dim-witted police chief with a terrifying habit of spewing forth malapropisms. A few memorable lines by Dogberry are:

"Is most tolerable, and not to be endured."

"Comparisons are odorous."

"Condemned into everlasting redemption."

Dogberry suceeds in arresting Borachio and Conrade for slander when they are actually guilty of real crimes. He never manages to get anyone to understand him at all. The character serves as comic relief, even relative to the overall comic atmosphere of the play. He is also the only character who never finds out what is going on.

Dogberry is the portrait of the senile old man. He gives a speech of sorts which spans half a scene, in which he instructs the watch to do just that, watch, and nothing else. The watch is all too eager to comply. The entire scene reaches a level of absurdity that surpasses even the juvenile actions of the play's main characters.

Dog"ber`ry (?), n. Bot.

The berry of the dogwood; -- called also dogcherry.

Dr. Prior.

Dogberry tree Bot., the dogwood.

 

© Webster 1913.

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