tug

Etymology

From Middle English tuggen, toggen, from Old English togian (“to draw, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *tugōną (“to draw, tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Cognate with Middle Low German togen (“to draw”), Middle High German zogen (“to pull, tear off”), Icelandic toga (“to pull, draw”). Related to tee, tow.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tŭg, IPA^(key): /tʌɡ/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Verb

tug (third-person singular simple present tugs, present participle tugging, simple past and past participle tugged)

1. (transitive) to pull or drag with great effort

   The police officers tugged the drunkard out of the pub.

2. (transitive) to pull hard repeatedly

   He lost his patience trying to undo his shoe-lace, but tugging it made the knot even tighter.

3. (transitive) to tow by tugboat

Noun

tug (plural tugs)

1. a sudden powerful pull
   • Dryden

     At the tug he falls, / Vast ruins come along, rent from the smoking walls.

   • 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport‎:

     But Van Persie slotted home 40 seconds after the break before David Wheater saw red for a tug on Theo Walcott.

2. (nautical) a tugboat
3. (obsolete) A kind of vehicle used for conveying timber and heavy articles.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

4. A trace, or drawing strap, of a harness.
5. (mining) An iron hook of a hoisting tub, to which a tackle is affixed.
6. (slang) An act of masturbation

   He had a quick tug to calm himself down before his date.

Anagrams

• GUT, UTG, gut

Verb

tug

1. past tense of thoir