hang-dog

adjective

1. browbeaten; defeated; intimidated; abject: He always went about with a hangdog look.
2. shamefaced; guilty: He sneaked out of the room with a hangdog expression.
3. suitable to a degraded or contemptible person; sneaky; furtive.

noun

4. Archaic. a degraded, contemptible person.

adjective

1. downcast, furtive, or guilty in appearance or manner

noun

2. a furtive or sneaky person

adj.

also hangdog, 1670s, “befitting a hang-dog,” a despicable, degraded fellow, so called either from notion of being fit only to hang a dog (cf. cutthroat) or of being a low person (i.e. dog) fit only for hanging. As a noun from 1680s.