lug

lug

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Luganda.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Luganda terms

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: lŭg, IPA^(key): /lʌɡ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

From Middle English luggen, possibly from Scandinavian source, (compare Swedish lugga, Norwegian lugge); also in English dialectal as lig (“to lug”). Noun is via Scots lugge, probably from Old Norse (compare Norwegian and Swedish lugg). Probably related to slug (“lazy, slow-moving”), which may be from similar source(s).

lug (plural lugs)

1. The act of hauling or dragging.

   a hard lug

2. That which is hauled or dragged.

   The pack is a heavy lug.

3. Anything that moves slowly.
   • 1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge […], London: […] Edouardi Whytchurch, →OCLC:

     whereof the one is quick of cast, trick, and trim both for pleasure and profit: the other is a lug

4. (automotive) A lug nut.
6. (electrical engineering) A device for terminating an electrical conductor to facilitate the mechanical connection; to the conductor it may be crimped to form a cold weld, soldered or have pressure from a screw.
7. A part of something which sticks out, used as a handle or support.
8. A large, clumsy, awkward man; a fool.

   Synonym: big lug

9. (UK) An ear or ear lobe.

   While shaving, the poor sod had a fit and cut part of a lug off.

10. A wood box used for transporting fruit or vegetables.
11. (slang) A request for money, as for political purposes.

    They put the lug on him at the courthouse.

12. A lugworm.
13. (informal) A pull or drag on a cigarette.
    • 2013, Paul Burke, The Man Who Fell In Love With His Wife:

      He took another long lug on his cigarette before continuing quietly, 'I've seen too much and it was seriously screwing me up. […]

• (protruding support): launch lug
• lug bolt

lug (third-person singular simple present lugs, present participle lugging, simple past and past participle lugged)

1. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To haul or drag along (especially something heavy); to carry; to pull.

   Why do you always lug around so many books?

   • c. 1700, Jeremy Collier, A Thought:

     They must divide the image among them, and so lug off every one his share.

   • 1923, P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:

     As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.

   • 2021 July 14, Anthony Lambert, “Grand designs on superior interiors”, in RAIL, number 935, page 48:

     Luggage areas need to be within sight, rather than at the end of carriages, despite the inconvenience of lugging cases further into a carriage.

2. (transitive) To run at too slow a speed.

   When driving up a hill, choose a lower gear so you don't lug the engine.

3. (transitive, nautical) To carry an excessive amount of sail for the conditions prevailing.
4. (intransitive, horse-racing) To pull toward the inside rail ("lugging in") or the outside rail ("lugging out") during a race.

From Middle English lugge (“pole, stick, staff”).

lug (plural lugs)

1. (UK, dialect) A rod or pole.
   • 1567, George Turberville, Epitome:

     And from the bodies [of pines and oaks] the boughes and loftie lugges they beare.

2. (UK, archaic, dialect) A measure of length equal to 16+¹⁄₂ feet.

   Synonym: rod

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 11:

     eight lugs of grownd; / Into the which returning backe, he fell

3. (nautical) A lugsail.
4. (harness) The leather loop or ear by which a shaft is held up.
5. A loop (or protuberance) found on both arms of a hinge, featuring a hole for the axis of the hinge.
6. A ridge or other protuberance on the surface of a body to increase traction or provide a hold for holding and moving it.

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “LUG”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “lug”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “lug”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[2], archived from the original on 5 September 2024.
• “Lug”, in Palgrave’s Word List: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[3], archived from the original on 5 September 2024, from F[rancis] M[ilnes] T[emple] Palgrave, A List of Words and Phrases in Everyday Use by the Natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham […] (Publications of the English Dialect Society; 74), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1896, →OCLC.

• Gul, gul, gül

From Dutch lucht.

• IPA^(key): /lœχ/

• Audio:

  (file)

lug (uncountable, diminutive luggie)

1. air

The plural form of lug is lugte, but it exists only in literary texts and is otherwise never used.

From Proto-Albanian *lug(ā), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leuK- (“to gulp/drink (down), swallow”). Cognate to Lithuanian liũgas (“morass”), Old Norse slok (“trough, spillway”), Middle High German slūch (“gulf, abyss”).^[1]

lug m (plural lugje, definite lugu, definite plural lugjet)

1. trough, (water) channel, spillway
2. groove (especially in trees)
3. valley (between mountains or hills through which a river or creek flows)

• “lug”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
• FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[4], 1980

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /l̪ˠʌɡ/
• Homophones: lag, log (Ulster)

lug m (genitive singular luga, nominative plural luganna)

1. (mechanics) lug

• lug seoil (“lugsail”)

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “lug”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• “lug”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025

From Proto-Finnic *luku. Cognates include Finnish luku.

lug

1. number

From Old Norse lok.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlǿʉːɣ]

lug n

1. weed, unwanted plant

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lǫgъ.

lȗg m inan (Cyrillic spelling лу̑г)

1. small forest, grove

   Synonyms: šumica, gaj

2. swamp forest

• “lug”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Borrowed from Middle High German louge, from Proto-Germanic *laugō (“soap, lye”).

lȗg m inan (Cyrillic spelling лу̑г)

1. ash (fire residue)
2. lye

• “lug”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

From Middle High German louge, from Proto-Germanic *laugō ("soap, lye").

• IPA^(key): /lùːk/, /lúːk/

lūg m inan

1. lye

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nominative	lúg
genitive	lúga
	singular
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	lúg
genitive (rodȋlnik)	lúga
dative (dajȃlnik)	lúgu
accusative (tožȋlnik)	lúg
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	lúgu
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	lúgom

• “lug”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “lug”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

From Proto-Cushitic. Cognates include Maay luk, Rendille luħ, Baiso lukka, Jiiddu loho,^[1] Arbore lukk.

lug f (plural lugo m)

1. leg

lug

1. romanization of 𒇻 (lug)

lug

1. alternative form of lhug
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 7, page 86:

     Th' heiftem o' pley vell all ing to lug;

     The weight of the play fell into the hollow;

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 54