A small vane or flag used on ships to show wind direction, especially useful in calm conditions when larger sails don't respond well.
From 'dog' (possibly meaning inferior or subordinate) and 'vane' (a device that turns to indicate wind direction). Dating to nautical terminology, it was a secondary wind indicator.
Sailors needed to read even the tiniest breath of wind to sail efficiently, so they invented these small feather or cloth gadgets that could spin in conditions where nothing else would move—kind of like how moths can sense vibrations humans can't feel.
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