pug

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See also: PuG

English

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WOTD – 26 August 2024

Pronunciation

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A pug (etymology 1, sense 1.1).
A currant pug (etymology 1, sense 1.2) (Eupithecia assimilata), a species of geometer moth.
“Nora No. 5”, a pug (etymology 1, sense 1.4) formerly owned by the National Coal Board, now on display at the Big Pit National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales, in the United Kingdom.

Etymology 1

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Origin unknown, possibly related to West Flemish pugge (“(adjective) small; (noun) short person; pet name derived from the first name Pugge”); though it is uncertain whether sense 1 (“senses relating to someone or something small”) and sense 2 (“senses relating to people”) are derived from the same source.[1]

Sense 1.8 (“small demon”) was probably influenced by, though not a variant of, puck.[1]

Noun

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pug (plural pugs)

  1. Senses relating to someone or something small.
    2. In full pug dog: a small dog of an ancient breed originating in China, having a snub nose, wrinkled face, squarish body, short smooth hair, and curled tail. [from 18th c.]
      Synonyms: carlin, Chinese pug, Dutch bulldog, Dutch mastiff, mini mastiff, mops
      • 1740 (first performance), David Garrick, Lethe. A Dramatic Satire. […], Dublin: […] S. Powell, [f]or G. and A. Ewing, G. Faulkner, J. Hoey, J. Exshaw, J. Exdall, and R. James, […], published 1749, →OCLC, page 21:
        She […] tells Fibs, makes Miſchief, buys China, cheats at Cards, keeps a Pug-dog, and hates the Parſons; […]
      • 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter II, in The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC, page 26:
        Meanwhile she arranged her ornaments in the room which she had won too easily. They were strange ornaments to bring on a sea-voyage—china pugs, tea-sets in miniature, […]
    4. In full pug moth, often with a descriptive word: any geometrid moth of the tribe Eupitheciini, especially the genus Eupithecia; a geometer moth.
    5. (clothing, historical) In full pug hood: a hood, sometimes with a short cloak attached, worn by women around the middle of the 18th century.
    7. (rail transport) In full pug engine: a small locomotive chiefly used for shunting (“moving trains from one track to another, or carriages from one train to another”).
    8. (UK, regional, archaic) Also used as a proper name: any of various animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon.
      • 1685 July (first performance), N[ahum] Tate, Cuckolds-Haven: Or, An Alderman No Conjurer. A Farce. […], London: […] J. H. and are to be sold by Edward Poole, […], published 1685, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 5:
        Dear, delicate Madam, I am your little Paraquit, your Sparrovv, your Shock, your Pugg, your Squirrel.
      • 1895, P[eter] H[enry] Emerson, “Shrew Mouse, or Rana, and Squirrels”, in Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 363:
        Squirrels / Are not uncommon in the plantings on the broad edges, where they may be seen feeding on the deal-apples, as the Broadsmen call the fir-cones; nuts and acorns too they are fond of. […] Stoats sometimes chase them, but "pug" generally manages to escape, an[d] he can get to a tree first—he is a much more daring jumper.
      1. (specifically) Synonym of teg (“a sheep (originally a ewe) in its second year, or from the time it is weaned until it is first shorn”)
        • 1808, Thomas Batchelor, “Live Stock”, in General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford. […], London: […] [B. McMillan] for Richard Phillips, […], →OCLC, section 2 (Sheep), page 541:
          It is to be observed in this experiment, […] that the loss of weight by feeding (tegs or pugs) on turnips, is remarkable: […]
      2. (specifically, obsolete) An ape, a monkey; also (by extension) a human child.
        • 1712 October 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, October 2, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 499; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 454:
          […] I heard her call him dear pug, and found him to be her favourite monkey.
          The spelling has been modernized.
        • 1733, Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace, […], London [actually Edinburgh]: […] L[awton] G[illiver] and sold by A. Dodd […], E[lizabeth] Nutt […], →OCLC, page 13:
          Its proper Povver to hurt, each Creature feels, / Bulls aim their Horns, and Aſſes lift their Heels, / 'Tis a Bear's Talent not to kick, but hug, / And no Man vvonders he's not ſtung by Pug: […]
        • 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIII. Lady G. to Lady Grandison.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 211:
          Take avvay the pug, ſaid I, to the attendants—Take it avvay vvhile any of it is left—They reſcued the ſtill ſmiling babe, and run avvay vvith it.
        • 1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Tristia; or, The Sorrows of Peter: […]. Elegy.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 297:
          Or, is the Monkey sick, he takes his bed; / Old Slop is sent for, to prescribe for Pug.— […]
      3. (specifically, obsolete) A fox.
        • 1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter VIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:
          [T]here is a dead silence, till pug is well out of cover, and the whole pack well in: then cheer the hounds with tally ho! till your lungs crack. Away he goes in gallant style, and the whole field is hard up, till pug takes a stiff country: […]
        • 1848, [Charles Kingsley], “The Philosophy of Fox-hunting”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 16:
          That spell was broken by the sight of poor wearied pug, his once gracefully-floating brush all draggled and drooping, as he toiled up the sheep-paths toward the open down above.
    9. (UK, regional, rare) A person or thing that is squat (“broad and short”).
    10. (US, regional) A bun or knot of hair; also, a piece of cloth or snood for holding this in place.
    12. (obsolete) A small demon; an imp, a puck, a sprite.
      Synonyms: goblin, hobgoblin
      • 1616 October or November (first performance), Ben Jonson, “The Persons of the Play”, in The Diuell is an Asse: A Comedie […], London: […] I. B. for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, page 93:
        Satan. The great diuell. / Pvg. The leſſe diuell.
        Used as the name of a character in the play.
      • 1635, Tho[mas] Heywood, “The Ninth Tractat: The Angell”, in The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells. […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 574:
        In Iohn Mileſius any man may reade / Of Diuels in Sarmatia honored, / Call'd Kottri, or Kibaldi; ſuch as vvee / Pugs and Hob-goblins call.
      • 1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “Canto I”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Simon Miller, […], →OCLC, page 82:
        This is your Buſineſs Good Pug Robin, / And your Diverſion, dull Dry Bobbing: / T' intice Fanaticks in the Dirt, / And vvaſh 'em clean in Ditches for't.
  2. Senses relating to people.
    1. (UK, historical) Chiefly used by servants: A senior or upper servant in a household. [from 19th c.]
      • 1962, E[rnest] S[ackville] Turner, “The Female Branch”, in What the Butler Saw: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Servant Problem, London: Michael Joseph, →OCLC, page 119:
        Procedure would vary a little from household to household. Thus, the roast might be ceremonially borne out ahead of the departing ‘Pugs,’ or it might be left behind so that the lower servants could have second helpings.
    2. (obsolete)
      1. A mistress, or a female prostitute; also (generally, derogatory) a woman. [c. 17th c.]
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prostitute, Thesaurus:woman
      2. (endearing) A term of endearment for a person, or sometimes an animal or a toy such as a doll.
      3. (nautical) A bargeman. [16th c.]
        Synonym: bargee
      4. (nautical) A cabin boy, a shipboy or ship's boy.
        • a. 1681 (date written), Samuel Butler, “Satyr”, in R[obert] Thyer, editor, The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler, […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1759, →OCLC, page 77, lines 143–146:
          [Ulysses] ty'd his deafen'd Sailors (vvhile he paſs'd / The dreadful Lady's Lodgings) to the Maſt, / And rather venture drovvning, than to vvrong / The Sea-pugs chaſte Ears vvith a bavvdy Song: […]
Hyponyms
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geometrid moth
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Acronym of pickup group.

Noun

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pug (plural pugs)

  1. (online gaming) Alternative letter-case form of PuG (“a group of players who are unknown to each other, grouped together to work toward a short-term goal such as completing a dungeon or a raid”)

Etymology 3

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The noun is borrowed from Hindi पग (pag, “step; (less common) foot; leg”), from Old Hindi पगु (pagu), from Sanskrit पद्ग (padga), from पद् (pad, “step; foot”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step; to walk; to fall; to stumble”)) + ग (ga, stem at the ends of compounds denoting going or moving) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)).[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Noun

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pug (plural pugs)

  1. (originally British India) The footprint or pawprint of an animal; a pugmark.
    • 1851 July, Captain Hardbargain [pseudonym], “A Jungle Recollection”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XLIV, number CCLIX, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, page 19, column 2:
      [T]here were the broad, deep puggs of a tiger, up and down the nullah, in the dry sand, near the water's edge, of all ages, from the week, perhaps, up to the unmistakeable fresh puggs of last night.
    • 1889, R[obert] S[tephenson] S[myth] Baden-Powell, “Rearing Pig”, in Pigsticking or Hoghunting. […], London: Harrison & Sons, […], →OCLC, § 27, page 55:
      The goat has a square pug with blunt points to his toes, which are always held apart. The sheep's pug is more like that of the boar, being longer than the goat's. […] The boar's pug is distinguished from that of the sow by being much wider in the heel, and having the toes more open, and the rudimentary toes marking the ground more widely apart.
    • 1991, Nadine Gordimer, “Spoils”, in Jump and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, page 174:
      [D]istinct pugs are found in the dust that surrounds the small swimming-pool which, like amniotic fluid, steeps the guests at their own body temperature. The host is not surprised; it has happened before: the lionesses must have come down to quench their thirst their feasting had given them.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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pug (third-person singular simple present pugs, present participle pugging, simple past and past participle pugged)

  1. (transitive, British India, obsolete, rare) To track (an animal) by following pawprints; also (by extension) to track (a person) by following footprints.
    • 1889, R[obert] S[tephenson] S[myth] Baden-Powell, “Rearing Pig”, in Pigsticking or Hoghunting. […], London: Harrison & Sons, […], →OCLC, § 27, page 57:
      Wishing to track a good boar that had got away through some thick cover, we called up the headman of the beat (a man lent to us by a friend) and asked him if he could pug. He was a havildar (sergeant) of police. He replied, 'That is my regular business, sahib; of course I can pug. My work is pugging criminals.'

Etymology 4

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Clipping of pugilist.[4]

Noun

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pug (plural pugs)

  1. (informal) Clipping of pugilist (“one who fights with their fists, especially a professional prize fighter; a boxer”). [from mid 19th c.]
    • 1924 July, John Buchan, “Sir Archibald Roylance Puts His Foot in It”, in The Three Hostages, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 212:
      Anyhow I found myself facin' the pug, seein' bright red, and inclined to fight a dozen. I didn't last for more than one round—my game leg cramped me, I suppose. I got one or two on his ugly face, and then I suppose I took a knock-out.
    • 1988, Ken Blady, “‘Slapsie’ Maxie Rosenbloom: ‘The Harlem Harlequin’: Light Heavyweight Champion of the World (1930–1935)”, in The Jewish Boxers Hall of Fame, New York, N.Y.: Shapolsky Publishers, →ISBN, page 226:
      He [Maxie Rosenbloom] never trained for his characters either: with his slurred speech and disfigured mug he usually portrayed a punch-drunk ex-pug or comic tough guy, roles in which he was a natural.
Translations
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Etymology 5

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The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly:[5]

It is also uncertain whether the various senses are derived from the same source.[5]

The origin of the noun is also uncertain; it is probably related to the verb.[6]

Verb

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pug (third-person singular simple present pugs, present participle pugging, simple past and past participle pugged)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (rare) To hit or punch (someone or something); also, to poke (someone or something).
      • 1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “The Middlesex Election; or, Poetical Epistles, in the Devonshire Dialect, by Mr. Joseph Budge, in London, to Lord Rolle, at Weymouth”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 442:
        Agosh! I long to try a bout / With zom o' Burdett's rabble rout; / I'd quickly pug their guts: / I'd gee mun zich a lammin [i.e., violent] lick, / I'd make mun of elections zick; / I'd gee mun all the butts.
    2. (construction) To fill or stop up (a space) with pug (noun sense 1), clay, sawdust, or other material by tamping; (specifically) to fill in (the space between joists of a floor, a partition, etc.) with some material to deaden sound, make fireproof, etc.
      • 1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Lord Auckland’s Triumph; or, The Death of Crim. Con. A Pair of Prophetic Odes. Elegy to a Friend.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 312:
        Forbid it Venus! From the venal Fair / Snatch every charm, to Hay convert her Locks; / Pug up her nose, and pug-like make her stare; / And pit her pimpled visage with small-pox.
    3. (construction, pottery) To mix and work (wet clay) until flexible, soft, and free from air pockets and suitable for making bricks, pottery, etc.
      to pug clay ready for shaping
    4. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand, archaic) Of cattle, etc.: to trample (the ground, a place, etc.) until it becomes muddy and soft; to poach.
    5. (England, regional, also figurative, archaic) To pack or tamp (something) into a small space.
  2. (intransitive, England, regional, also figurative, archaic) To pack or tamp into a small space.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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pug (countable and uncountable, plural pugs) (chiefly construction, pottery)

  2. Clay, soil, or other material which has been mixed and worked until flexible, soft, and free from air pockets and thus suitable for making bricks, pottery, etc.; also, any other material with a similar consistency or function, especially (Australia) auriferous (“gold-bearing”) clay.
    • 1866, Mr. Dean, witness, “Children’s Employment Commission (1862). Fifth Report of the Commissioners, […]. [Appendix to Fifth Report. Reports and Evidence of Assistant Commissioners. Evidence on Brickfields.—By Mr. H. W. Lord.]”, in Reports from Commissioners: […] (No. 3678), volume XXIV, London: […] George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, […] for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, paragraph 40, page 143, column 1:
      A brickfield certainly is not the place for girls and young women to work in; […] the work they have too, at least those who are pug-bearers, often causes indecency; they have to stoop down to the ground to pick the pug up from the bottom of the mill; at all events, they ought to have their clothes tied around them, indeed, the respectable young women usually have. I do not think there is any ill-treatment of the children as there used to be; they often get a bit of pug thrown at them, but they are not hit about with the hand or the "slice."
    • 1872, Mrs. Edward Millett, chapter III, in An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 55:
      The walls of the house were built of "pug," which means simply well-pounded mud, and has the disadvantage of refusing to adhere firmly to the frames of doors and casements, so that the banging of either, in windy weather, is apt to bring large pieces of the material crumbling down, and the house never looks tidy.
  3. Short for pug mill (“kind of mill for grinding, mixing, and working clay”).
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 6

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Origin unknown; sense 1.2 (“to spoil (something) by touching too much”) is possibly influenced by pug (verb, noun) (see etymology 5) or puggy.[7]

Verb

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pug (third-person singular simple present pugs, present participle pugging, simple past and past participle pugged) (Scotland, Wales, Western England)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To pull or tug (something).
      • 1717 April 10 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Edward Turner, quoting [the anonymous diarist], “The Marchant Diary”, in Sussex Archaeological Collections, […], volume XIII (2nd Series; volume XXV overall), Lewes, Sussex: George P. Bacon for the Sussex Archaeological Society, published 1873, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 180:
        George pugg'd clover in the forenoon.
      • [1827, M. W. T. [i.e., William Tennant], “Sang Saxt [Song Sixth]”, in Papistry Storm’d; or, The Dingin’ Down o’ the Cathedral. […] (in Scots), Edinburgh: […] Oliver and Boyd, […], →OCLC, page 211:
        Nae thing was prosperin’ there and thrivin’, / But tirlin’ roofs and rafter-rivin’, / And pullin’ down and puggin’; […]
        Nothing was prospering there and thriving, / But tirling [stripping] roofs and rafter-riving [rending], / And pulling down and pugging; […]]
      • 1875, A. Porson, “Dialogues in which Some of These Expressions Occur”, in Notes of Quaint Words and Sayings in the Dialect of South Worcestershire, Oxford, Oxfordshire; London: James Parker and Co. […], →OCLC, paragraph 56, page 29:
        Now, surry [sir], where be you coming scoating [sliding] to with that 'orse? Pug your right rein a bit, and give we some room.
    3. (obsolete) To spoil (something) by touching too much.
      • 1885, E. Cruwys Sharland, chapter IV, in Ways and Means in a Devonshire Village. A Book for Mothers’ Meetings. […], London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, →OCLC, page 55:
        ["B]e sure not to wet it up too much; make it into twelve doughboys" (dumplings). / "I'm so heavy-handed," Jane remarked at this point, "I always spoil that sort of cookery." / "Tell about heavy-handed!" cried Betsy; "I'll answer for it, I'll soon put you in the way of being light-handed! You only want to learn to handle things without pugging and pawing them about too much."
  2. (intransitive) Followed by at: to pull or tug.
Translations
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Etymology 7

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From Late Middle English pugge (“husk of grain”);[8] further etymology unknown, possibly related to pug (verb) (see etymology 5). However, the latter is only attested much later.[9]

Noun

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pug (countable and uncountable, plural pugs) (UK, regional, agriculture)

  1. (Southwest England, archaic) The residue left after pressing apples for cider; pomace.
  2. (obsolete) Often in the plural: the husks and other refuse removed from grain by winnowing; chaff.
    • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XIX.] Garden Plants, Their Natures, Kinds, and Severall Histories.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 17:
      Radiſh ſeed vvould vvillingly be ſovvne in a looſe or light ground, and natherleſſe moiſt enough: it cannot abide danke mucke, but contenteth it ſelfe vvith rotten chaffe or pugs, and ſuch like plaine mullock.
    • [a. 1640 (date written), John Smyth, “[Phrases and Proverbs of Speach Proper to This Hundred]”, in John MacLean, editor, The Berkeley Manuscripts: A Description of the Hundred of Berkeley in the County of Gloucester and of Its Inhabitants, volume III, Gloucester, Gloucestershire: […] John Bellows for the subscribers, published 1885, →OCLC, page 25:
      The pugg, i.e. the refuſe corne left at winnowinge.]
Translations
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “pug, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “pug1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “pug, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “pug4, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “† pug, v.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “pug4, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “pug, n.5”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “pug3, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 “pug, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “pug2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. ^ “pug, n.4”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “pug2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  7. ^ “pug, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  8. ^ “pugge, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  9. ^ “pug, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Volapük

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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pug (nominative plural pugs)

  1. slaughter, slaughtering
  2. butchery, butchering

Declension

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declension of pug
singular plural
nominative pug pugs
genitive puga pugas
dative puge puges
accusative pugi pugis
vocative 1 o pug! o pugs!
predicative 2 pugu pugus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
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Terms derived from pug
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