Link Centre Dictionary

tug

UK/ˈtəɡ/ US/ˈtʌɡ/ fairly common slang uk
verb (7) noun (2)

verb

1.

pull hard

  • “The prisoner tugged at the chains”
  • “This movie tugs at the heart strings”
2.

strive and make an effort to reach a goal

  • “She tugged for years to make a decent living”
  • “We have to push a little to make the deadline!”
  • “She is driving away at her doctoral thesis”
Synonyms
3.

tow (a vessel) with a tug

  • “The tugboat tugged the freighter into the harbor”
4.

carry with difficulty

  • “You”
Synonyms
5.

move by pulling hard

  • “The horse finally tugged the cart out of the mud”
6.

pull or strain hard at

  • “Each oar was tugged by several men”
7.

struggle in opposition

  • “She tugged and wrestled with her conflicts”

noun

1.

a sudden abrupt pull

Synonyms
2.

Origin

From Middle English tuggen, from Old English togian (“to tow”), from Proto-West Germanic *togōn, from Proto-Germanic *tugōną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull; to lead”). Cognates Cognate with German zögern (“to hesitate, pause”), Faroese and Icelandic toga (“to pull”), French touer (“to tow, tug a ship”); also Welsh dwyn (“to steal; to take; to bring to”), Latin dūcō (“to conduct, guide, lead; to take; to draw, pull; to consider, think; to prolong; to march; to forge”), Ancient Greek δαδύσσομαι (dadússomai, “to be distracted”), Albanian nduk (“to pluck out, pull out, tear”), Central Kurdish دۆشین (doşîn, “to milk”), Northern Kurdish dotin, doşîn, دۆشین (doşîn, “to milk”), Ossetian ду́цын (dúcyn, “to milk”), Pashto لوشل (lwašal, “to milk; to extort”), Persian دوشیدن (dōšīdan / dušidan), دوشتن (duštan), دوختن (dōxtan / duxtan, “to milk”). Related to tow.

Phrases

  • rub and tug
  • tug down
  • tug of love
  • tug of war
  • tug off
  • tug one's forelock
  • tug up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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See also

Part of

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.