| 释义 |
▪ I. peg, n.1|pɛg|
Forms: 5–7 pegge, 5 pege, 7–8 pegg, 6– peg.
[First mentioned in Promp. Parv. c 1440; of obscure history, but app. of LG. origin; cf. dial. Du. peg plug, peg, small wooden pin (Franck), LG. pigge peg (Kluge); also MDu. pegel ‘little knob used as a mark’:—ODu. *pagil little peg, pin, or bolt, esp. as a mark (Franck); also dial. Du. pēgel icicle, LG. pēgel stake. Some also compare Da. pig, Sw. pigg pike, point, spike.]
1. a. A pin or bolt made orig. of wood, also of metal or the like, usually of a cylindrical or slightly tapering shape, and used to hold together portions of a framework, parts of machinery, etc., or for stopping up a hole, as the vent of a cask; also, a similar pin driven into or fastened in a hole in a wall, board, etc., or into the ground, and left projecting to serve for hanging up hats, clothes, etc., for holding the ropes of a tent, etc., or for marking boundaries, the level of a surface, the score in cribbage, etc. Also short for clothes-peg.
c1440Promp. Parv. 390/1 Pegge, or pynne of tymbyr, cavilla. 1483Cath. Angl. 272/2 A Pege (A. Pegge). 1530Palsgr. 253/1 Pegge of woode, cheuille. 1570Levins Manip. 53/23 A Pegge, clauus. 1575Turberv. Faulconrie 276 To take a Iunyper sticke, or suche like drye tymber, and thereof to make a small sharpe pegge. 1593Nashe Christs T. 24 May it be as a pegge in a vessell, to broche blood with plucking out. 1598Florio, Cauiglia, any ring or peg fastned in the wall to tie horses to. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 39 As it is with an Archer..when he hath hit the white or cloven the peg. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. i. (1682) 8 A tapering Peg of brass. 1664Evelyn Sylva (1679) 27 Oak is excellent for..pinns and peggs for tyling. 1712Addison Spect. No. 403 ⁋10 His Hat that hung upon a wooden Pegg by him. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 593 There are pegs and pins in a building as well as beams and columns. 1854in C. Robinson Kansas Conflict (1892) 76 A great many Missourians have already set their pegs in that country. 1857Chambers' Inform. People II. 718/2 A cribbage-board..possesses holes for the scoring of each party, and the scoring is effected by means of pegs. 1858Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 239/1 Lay a verge of turf close to these pegs, and thus permanently mark one side of the road. 1875J. D. Heath Croquet Player 19 The recognised method of naming the hoops is by threes,..first hoop, second hoop, third hoop, hoops three to peg [or post], two to peg, one to peg, &c. 1879McCarthy Own Times II. xxvii. 317 The tents were torn from their pegs and blown away.
b. Phrase. a round peg in a square hole (or vice versa), someone placed in a station unsuited or uncongenial to his peculiar capacities or disposition.
1836Fonblanque Eng. under Seven Administr. (1837) III. 342 Sir Robert Peel was a smooth round peg, in a sharp-cornered square hole, and Lord Lyndhurst is a rectangular square-cut peg, in a smooth round hole. 1901Westm. Gaz. 24 Dec. 2/2 Was there ever a more glaring case of square peg in round hole and round peg in square?
†c. A broach of a deer's horn: = broach n.1 7.
1611Cotgr., Chevilleures, the broches of a Deeres head; all the pegs aboue the two lowest.
d. Applied to something resembling or suggesting a peg: see quot.
1847–78Halliwell, Pegs, small pieces of dough rolled up, and crammed down the throats of young ducks and geese.
e. off the peg adv. phr. and (with hyphens) adj. phr.: said of (the purchase of) ready-made clothes from the peg on which they hang in a shop; available for immediate purchase or use. Also transf. and fig.
[1879–81G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. 44 Bought off the pegs, said contemptuously of second-hand or ‘slop⁓made’ clothing.] a1916R. Asquith in Spender & Asquith Life H. H. Asquith (1932) II. xlviii. 234 Love ready-made or glamour off the peg. 192219th Cent. June 1026 Before the war the average undergraduate was..garbed in a ‘sports’ coat obviously ‘off the peg’. 1926M. A. von Arnim Introd. to Sally vi. 74 The poor Pinners would have to buy clothes off the peg. 1954J. Betjeman Few Late Chrysanthemums 84 An officer's lady—and more so Than those who buy off the peg. 1957Economist 28 Dec. 1120/2 There simply is no such thing as suitable spectacles ‘off the peg’. 1959[see bar-tacking s.v. bar n.1 30]. 1959Daily Tel. 4 May 13 (heading) Off-the-Peg thrills of the Law. 1963Times 19 Feb. 18/2 Shipowners may before long buy vessels ‘off the peg’ instead of each vessel's being an individual tailor-made job. 1971Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 12/3 Her clothes are mostly bought ‘off the peg’ in Zurich boutiques. 1974Country Life 28 Mar. 732/1 Georgian sash windows..have been replaced by off-the-peg glass rectangles. 1975Times 11 Mar. (Italian Industry Suppl.) p. vii/4 It was the equivalent of the passage from bespoke to off-the-peg tailoring. 1977Navy News June 22 (Advt.), Every Officer and Rating may be fitted immediately ‘off the peg’.
f. West Indies. A segment of a citrus fruit. (Perh. a different word: cf. pig n.1 8 c.)
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl. 960/2 Peg... One of the cells or natural divisions into which an orange may be separated after removing the skin. [West Indies.] 1956J. Hearne Stranger at Gate i. 9 He moved his hand and closed it on..the..tangerine..stripping the soft skin from the fruit and cramming the pegs into his mouth. 1971Caribbean Q. XVII. ii. 14 Different name, same referent..feg/fig/peg/plug/sprig (of orange). 1973N.Y. Times 3 June L 19/1 A section of an orange..is..called..‘peg’.
g. Railways. A semaphore signal.
1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxxiii. 288 Recollec' that cove with a red beard we come on camped by the railway peg near Nine Mile Tank..? 1971D. J. Smith Discovering Railwayana x. 58 Peg, signal.
2. In special applications.
a. In stringed musical instruments, A pin of wood or metal to which the strings are fastened at one end, and which is turned to adjust the tension in tuning; a tuning-pin. Often in fig. expressions (with some of which cf. 3).
1604Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 202 Oh you are well tun'd now: But Ile set downe the peggs that make this Musicke. 1645Bp. Hall Remedy Discontents iv. 14 Like to a skilfull Musitian, that can let down his strings a peg lower when the tune requires it. a1677Barrow Pope's Suprem. Introd. x. (1687) 18 Popes of high spirit and bold face..did ever aspire to scrue Papal authority to the highest peg. 1693Southerne Maid's Last Pr. iv. Wks. 1721 II. 65 He takes a Base-Viol, and while he is Tuning, one of the Bullies unwinds the Pegs over his Head. 1842Tennyson Vision of Sin 87 Let me screw thee up a peg, Let me loose thy tongue with wine. 1886Stevenson Dr. Jekyll x, My love of life screwed to the topmost peg. 1898Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v. Tuning, String instruments of the violin, guitar, and pianoforte class are tuned by altering the tension of the strings at the end where they are carried round a moveable peg.
b. One of a set of pins fixed at intervals in a drinking vessel as marks to measure the quantity which each drinker was to drink.
See Strutt Compleat View (1775) I. 48.
1796Pegge Anonym. (1809) 183 The first person that drank was to empty the tankard to the first peg or pin; the second..to the next pin, etc. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. iv. Refectory, Come, old fellow, drink down to your peg! But do not drink any farther, I beg! 1865Kingsley Herew. iv, We ourselves drink here by the peg at midday.
c. The metal pin on which a peg-top spins.
1740,1812[see peg-top]. 1828Boy's Own Bk. 12 A top with a long peg is best at this game.
d. Shoemaking. A pin of wood or (latterly) of brass or condensed leather, used to fasten the uppers to the sole, or the lifts to each other.
[1765? implied in pegging-awl: see pegging vbl. n. 3.] 1825Jamieson, Peggin-awl, a kind of awl used by shoe⁓makers for entering the pegs or wooden pins driven into the heels of shoes. 1872Japanese in Amer. 206 Shoes..are fastened on the bottom by wooden pegs, thereby creating peg factories.
e. A wedge-shaped piece of wood projecting from a jeweller's board.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 349/1 In the centre of the hollow is a small wedge-shaped projecting piece of wood, called the peg, on which he performs all his operations.
f. Cricket. A stump.
1865Bell's Life in London 1 July 9/2 Griffith then bowling Davis's centre peg. 1901H. Bleackley Tales of Stumps i. 31 Little Tommy tossed a slow long-hop on the leg peg,..and Nat managed to fumble it away for two. 1909Westm. Gaz. 15 July 12/1 He was beaten by another fine ball from Smith, which, after pitching well outside the off peg, broke across the wicket and hit the top of the leg stump. 1972R. Robinson Wildest Tests xi. 120 Cunis swung one so late and so far that it hit Gandotra's leg peg.
g. Mountaineering. = piton 2. Also in Comb.
1920G. W. Young Mountain Craft iv. 201 My party has taken pegs three times in all, as a precaution, and used one once (on a new descent). 1946J. E. Q. Barford Climbing in Brit. ii. 25 Pegs or large nails with rings in one end, which are driven into rocks to provide an anchor where no natural one exists. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Nov. 655/2 The ‘peg-bashers’ have concentrated their main attention on short ferocious overhangs. 1971[see ironmongery 1 d]. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon viii. 120 We fully expected our route to be high-standard peg-climbing the whole way.
3. fig. ? The interval between two successive pegs; a step, degree. Chiefly in phr. to take, bring, let († pull) (a person) down a peg (or two), a peg lower, etc., to lower him a degree in his own or the general estimation, to humble, snub, mortify. Also, passively, to come down a peg. Cf. 2 a.
1589Pappe w. Hatchet To Huffe, Ruffe, etc., Now haue at you all my gaffers of the rayling religion, tis I that must take you a peg lower. 1625in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 58 Talking of the brave times that would be shortly..when..the Bishop of Chester, that bore himself so high, should be hoisted a peg higher to his little ease. 1664Butler Hud. ii. ii. 522 We still have worsted all your holy Tricks,..And took your Grandees down a peg. 1707Hearne Collect. 24 Feb. (O.H.S.) I. 336 You'll bring me down a peg lower in my Conceit. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §18 He is a peg too high for me in some of his notions. 1781C. Johnston Hist. J. Juniper II. 247 An opportunity for letting him down a peg or two. 1809Naval Chron. XXIV. 32 Chance..has..raised these gentlemen a peg higher. 1894Mrs. H. Ward Marcella II. 324, I must take that proud girl down a peg.
b. Mil. slang. A charge. Usu. in phr. on the peg, on a charge, under arrest.
1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 122/2 On the peg (military), to be under arrest... The expression is also used when a soldier is put under stoppages. 1919[see for prep. 13 e]. 1923J. Manchon Le Slang 220 To whip..on the peg, mettre..aux arrêts. 1941Amer. Speech XVI. 186/2 On the peg, under charge for misdemeanor.
4. to move, start, stir a peg, to make a move.
1810Sir J. Barrow in Croker Papers 27 July, Our whole squadron in the Downs, not one of which attempted to move a peg. 1841Punch I. 243/1 You'll not stir a peg. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. viii, You've got to fork over fifty dollars, flat down, or this child don't start a peg. 1855Smedley H. Coverdale iii. 18 One condition without which I don't stir a peg.
5. fig. a peg to hang (a discourse, opinion, etc.) upon, an occasion, pretext, excuse, or theme for. Also absol. and const. for.
1812J. Nott Dekker's Gull's Horn-bk. 30 note, The remark of a St. James's-street chairman, that ‘a crust of bread and cheese was an excellent peg to hang a pot of porter upon’. 1852Geo. Eliot Let. 24–25 July (1954) II. 50 The publishing world seems utterly stagnant—nothing coming out which would do as a peg for an article. 1858R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma i, [A] quarrelsome fellow, who merely wanted a peg to hang a grievance upon. 1891Lancet 3 Oct. 750 The chief use of a fact is as a peg to hang a thought on. 1909J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 194/1 Peg (Theatrical, 1884). Sensation point or effect of a piece. Something upon which the actors..can build up a scene. 1929D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 590 And as for his relation to his women..they are pegs to hang clothes on, and there's an end of them. 1930E. Pound XXX Cantos vii. 26 The Elysée carries a name on And the bus behind me gives me a date for peg. 1953A. Huxley Let. 19 July (1969) 678, I have been asked..to do an article on recent developments in para⁓psychology, using your forthcoming book as the peg on which to hang my remarks. 1966Listener 10 Feb. 221/2 The event itself seemed too slight a peg on which to hang a sixty-minute programme. 1972Guardian 11 Sept. 8/6 Newspapermen..with their contempt for yesterday's story, their embarrassment when confronted with master⁓pieces lacking any evident ‘peg’. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Feb. 174/3 Dr Hacking uses this theme as a series of pegs on which to hang his discussions of particular authors' philosophies of language.
6. A drink; esp. of brandy and soda-water. Chiefly in Anglo-Indian slang. (Cf. 2 b.)
1864Trevelyan Compet. Wallah (1866) 158 Brandy and belattee pawnee, a beverage which goes by the name of a ‘peg’ (according to the favourite derivation, because each draught is a ‘peg’ in your coffin). 1883F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs 7 Trial..who could absorb the most ‘pegs’—those vile concoctions of spirits, ice, and sodawater. 1896A. Forbes Camps, Quarters, &c. 263 [She] brewed him a mild peg with her own fair hands.
7. a. A tooth, esp. a child's tooth. Now dial. and nursery prattle.
1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. vi. i. 290 Her grinders..shall..waxe as ill As old Catillaes, which wont euery night Lay vp her holly pegs till next day-light. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pegs, teeth.
b. A wooden leg (colloq.); also, a leg (humorous). Cf. peg-leg in 11.
1833M. Scott Tom Cringle iii. 79 It had been left three inches too long, so he had to jerk himself up to the top of his peg at every step. a1845Hood Faithless Nelly Gray iii, The army-surgeons made him limbs: Said he,—‘They're only pegs’. 1847–78Halliwell, Peg..(4) a leg, or foot.
8. An implement furnished with a pin, claw, or hook, used for tearing, harpooning, etc.:
a. a prong or tine fastened to a pole or string, used for harpooning turtles, a turtle-peg;
b. a husking-peg.
1731–48Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina (1754) II. 39 Turtle are most commonly taken at the Bahama Islands..by striking them with a small iron peg of two inches long; this peg is put in a socket at the end of a staff twelve feet long..[and] fastened by a string to the pole. 1827G. A. McCall Lett. fr. Frontiers (1868) 178 The Colonel had directed Maximo to bring with him his turtle-seine, his ‘peg’ and all other appliances for hunting the green turtle. 1846[see peg-striker in 11]. 1872Talmage Serm. 162 Corn-husker's peg never ripped out fuller ear.
9. a. A thrusting blow. dial. or slang.
1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xxvii, Many cross buttocks did I sustain, and pegs on the stomach without number. 1796Grose's Dict. Vulg. T. (ed. 3) s.v., A peg is also a blow with a straight arm. 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss., Peg, a blow or thump.
b. An act or effort of ‘pegging on’ (peg v. 10); a stiff effort to make one's way. rare.
1894Outing (U.S.) Apr. 36/2 From there to the next mark was a dead peg to windward.
10. Short for peg-top 1. rare. peg in the ring: see quot. 1847–78
1835Marryat Jacob Faithf. v, In playing at marbles, and peg in the ring. 1840P. Parley's Ann. I. 85, I wish you would change tops with me. I'll give you my two pegs for your boxer. 1847–78Halliwell, Peg-in-the-ring, at top, is to spin the top within a certain circle marked out, and in which the top is to exhaust itself, without once overstepping the bounds prescribed. 1885New Bk. Sports 311 If the full game of peg-in-the-ring be played, [there is] a good deal of excitement and varied interest.
11. attrib. and Comb., as peg-hole, peg-maker; peg-like adj.; peg-bag, a bag used as a container for clothes-pegs; peg-basket, a repository for clothes-pegs; peg-board, (a) a board with holes and pegs used in some games; (b) a board having regularly spaced holes for holding hooks on which objects can be hung; hence peg-boarding; peg-box, pegbox, a structure at the head of instruments of the lute or violin type, where the strings are attached to the tuning-pegs; peg-cutter, peg-float: see quots.; peg doll, a doll made from a clothes peg or similar piece of wood; peg-house slang, (a) a public-house (see sense 6); (b) a brothel or meeting-place for male homosexuals (U.S.); peg-ladder, a ladder, usually fixed, with a single standard having rungs fixed through it, or to one side (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); peg leg, a wooden leg (see sense 7 b); one who has a wooden leg; also transf. and as v. intr., to move with a limp or a stiff gait (see also quot. 1932); ˈpeg-legged a., having a peg leg (also transf.); peg-legger, one having a peg leg; slang, a beggar; peg-man, (a) a tent-pegger; (b) a workman who lasts pegged boots or shoes; peg-pole, an upright pole pierced with peg-holes, for ascent by a gymnast having two pegs in his hands which he inserts alternately; peg-pot = peg-tankard; peg-rent, cloak-room charges; peg rhizoid, in certain liverworts of the order Marchantiales, a rhizoid distinguished by peg-like processes on the inner surface; † peg-roots, local name of the Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridis); peg-striker, one who catches turtles with a peg (sense 8 a); peg-strip, a strip or ribbon of wood from which pegs are split off in the pegging-machine; peg-tankard, one with pegs inserted at regular intervals to mark the quantity each person is to drink (see sense 2 b); peg-tooth, a peg-shaped tooth, a canine tooth; peg-wattled: see quot.; peg-wood, dogwood used in small splinters by jewellers for cleaning the pivot-holes of watches.
1951J. Fleming Man who looked Back xl. 145 She gathered up her arty *peg-bag. 1972P. Flower Cobweb iii. 92 Already a faithful clientele. What d'you think about tea cosies and table-mats, peg bags, teapot stands and so on?
1914D. H. Lawrence Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd i. i. 12 Jack, can you go and take the stockings in for me?.. Minnie, you take the *peg-basket.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 246 We can merely mention bean-bags, *peg-boards, size and form boards, as some of the apparatus found useful for the purpose [of amusing and instructing the weak-minded]. 1951Catal. of Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 152/1 Pegboard; Educational Supply Association Ltd. 1960Guardian 24 Feb. 13/5 A peg board lining to the door..for extensive hanging purposes. 1962E. Godfrey Retail Selling & Organization ii. 19 It [sc. the counter] will be replaced by shelving, pegboard or tiered stands. 1967R. Whitehead in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 69 Those wonderful pegboard systems and elaborate charts designed along foolproof lines to check the flow of work are notorious for the way they fail to work. 1971Femina (Bombay) 30 Apr. 27/3 Picture puzzles, peg⁓board, block building..sharpen motor skills. 1975P. G. Winslow Death of Angel iv. 96 The shed was deep... Piles of what looked like sheets of metal lay along one side. Tools hung from a pegboard in the back.
1960Woman's Realm 2 Apr. 10/3 Sheets of *pegboarding..make a..useful space for hanging utensils. 1962Friend 3 Aug. 946/2 The most expensive item was peg-boarding for the ceiling.
1883Grove Dict. Mus. III. 81/2 It [sc. the rebec] was shaped like the half of a pear, and was everywhere solid except at the two extremities, the upper of which was formed into a *peg-box identical with that still in use, and surmounted by a carved human head. 1938Oxf. Compan. Mus. 524/1 The head [of the lute], containing the peg-box, is generally bent back at an angle from the neck. 1961M. W. Prynne in A. Baines Mus. Instruments vii. 158 For balance, the bent-back pegbox has to be as light as possible with very slender pegs or ‘lute-pins’. 1976D. Munrow Instruments Middle Ages & Renaissance 25/4 From the twelfth to the fourteenth century, the instrument is regularly referred to in French literature as mandoire or sometimes mandola and illustrations often reveal the instrument's most recognizable feature; its sickle-shaped pegbox.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1648/1 *Peg-cutter, an instrument or machine for removing the ends of pegs from the insides of boots and shoes. A float.
1950Dryad Catal. 96 *Peg doll. Height 11{pp}—Each 4/6. 1951Notes Coll. Dolls & Figurines (Wenham, Mass., Hist. Assoc.) 50 The popular wooden play doll commonly called ‘Peg-doll’, ‘Penny-wood’, was born in the Thuringian forest. 1969[see Flanders baby]. 1972Times 30 June 18/2 Nanny..is one of a series of pretty peg dolls all dressed in the fashions of 1870 servants... They are..made from genuine dolly pegs, hand painted and dressed by Somerset craftsmen.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1648/1 *Peg-float, an implement for rasping pegs from boots and shoes.
1922C. Aiken Jig of Forslin 40 And once I murdered, by the waterfront: A drunken sailor, in a *peg-house brawl. 1931‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 211 Peg house, a place where, if the hobo wishes, he may meet Angelina. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §507/4 Peg house, a male homosexual brothel or gathering place. 1972R. A. Wilson Playboy's Bk. Forbidden Words 222 A ‘peg-boy’ is a young male who prostitutes himself to homosexuals; ‘peg-house’, a homosexual brothel. There is an unsubstantiated story that boys in East Indian peg⁓houses were required to sit on pegs between customers, giving them permanently dilated anuses.
1769J. Wedgwood Let. 6 Dec. (1965) 88 The *peg leg is much wanted. 1872Hartley Clock Alm. 48 (E.D.D.) Besides, he's a peg leg. 1889Pall Mall G. 16 Aug. 3/1 The days of the old ‘peg’ legs have gone by. 1903N. & Q. 9th Ser. XI. 404/2 A wooden leg, in the sense of a peg-leg, Lord Uxbridge never wore. 1932Amer. Speech VII. 269 When cable-tools alternately strike bottom and miss in drilling, they are said to peg-leg. 1969D. Francis Enquiry xiv. 190, I peg-legged up the back drive. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 116 Peg leg, (1) the first rear axle of a tandem-axle tractor when it has only single tires... (2) a three-legged trailer... (3) a trailer with one broken dolly. 1974Daily Tel. 3 Sept. 14/6 During the 1914–18 war more than 20,000 men with legs amputated were fitted with clumsy wooden ‘peg-legs’.
1967B. Patten Little Johnny's Confession 18 It should scatter woodworm into the bedrooms of all *peglegged men. 1974H. L. Foster Ribbin' vi. 245 The current trend is..ankle⁓length, peg-legged jeans and platform shoes in the city.
1937Partridge Dict. Slang 615/2 *Peg-legger, a beggar... Either rhyming s[lang] or ex the preceding [sc. peg-leg]. 1943Bournemouth Daily Echo 28 Oct. 2/3 Another ‘peg⁓legger’—as the one-legged men call themselves—was Marine Edgar Saunders.
1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6193/3 Thomas Atkines,..*Pegmaker.
1859F. A. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 35 Pole-men, *peg-men, and unpackers of tents. 1897S. & B. Webb Industr. Democracy I. 418 ‘Lasters’..(in hand-sewn work these are known as ‘makers’, in ‘pegged work’..they are called ‘pegmen’ or ‘rivetters’).
1903Athenæum 24 Jan. 122/1 In 1873 a *peg-pot similarly engraved..was offered to the city, but declined.
1911Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 115/1 The man who likes to eat a meal without worry lest somebody should exchange hats with him..must pay *peg-rent.
1911J. M. Coulter et al. Textbk. Bot. II. i. 516 In the Marchantiaceae, rhizoids are of two kinds, plane rhizoids..and *peg rhizoids, in which the cell wall grows out internally into peg-like or antler-like projections. 1958New Biol. XXVII. 90 One of the peculiarities of Marchantia is that these rhizoids are of two kinds, smooth rhizoids..and ‘peg rhizoids’ which have numerous peg-like thickenings on the inner surface of the wall jutting into the cell cavity. 1969F. E. Round Introd. Lower Plants viii. 102 (caption) Section through a pore region of Conocephalum, note photosynthetic filaments, peg and smooth rhizoids and amphigastrium.
1737S. Dale Pharmacologia (ed. 3) 177 Dein fibros radicum hujus per vulnus transadigunt, unde *Peg-roots dicuntur.
1846Worcester, *Peg-striker, one who catches turtles by striking them with an iron peg having a string attached to it. Holbrook.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1650/1 *Peg-strip,..invented by Sturtevant, 1858.
1796Pegge Anonym. (1809) 183 *Peg-Tankards, of which I have seen a few still remaining in Derbyshire,..hold two quarts, so that there is a gill of ale, i.e. half a pint Winchester measure, between each pin. 1884Leisure Hour May 299/2 The peg-tankard..had pegs in it, dividing the height into eight half-pints. 1967Times 7 Mar. 21/6 (Advt.), A York peg tankard, by John Plummer, circa 1695.
1681Grew Museum i. 43 The Teeth are about threescore, thirty in each Jaw;..*Peg-Teeth, not much unlike the Tusks of a Mastiff.
1765Treat. Dom. Pigeons 82 The wattle..ought to be broad across the beak; short from the head towards the apex, or point of the bill, and tilting forwards from the head; for if otherwise, it is said to be *peg-wattled, which is very much disesteemed.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 184 A watch maker would be quite at a loss without a stock of *peg wood. 1885C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 327/1.
Senses 1 d–g in Dict. become 1 e–h; sense 2 g becomes 2 h. Add: [1.] †d. slang (chiefly Austral.). A shilling (see also quot. 1950). Obs.
a1790H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash (1795) 46 Peg, or peg stick, a shilling. 1851H. Mayhew London Labour I. 52/1 Waist Togs, cut long, with moleskin back and sleeves, 10 peg. Blue Cloth ditto,.., 14 peg. 1904L. M. P. Archer Bush Honeymoon 213 I'm old an' lonely an' poor—ten peg per week, an' lucky to get it. c1907C. W. Chandler Darkest Adelaide 58 Dig up another sprat so that I will have a couple of peg for myself. 1950Austral. Police Jrnl. Apr. 117 Peg, 2s.
[2.] g. Angling, Shooting, etc. A place (usu. marked by a numbered peg) allotted to a competitor from which to fish, shoot, etc.; hence, the stretch of water, ground, etc. allotted to a person for a match.
1897Fishing Gaz. 18 Sept. 221/2 The members made their way to their pegs, which reached from Pershore Bridge down the river to Burlingham. 1927‘Float & Fly’ Fishing Matches iii. 11 On the day of the match the competitors each draw a number out of a hat and proceed to the peg corresponding to the number drawn. 1951F. H. Hornsey Match-Fishing with Champions 14, I recall one occasion in winter when the cold was almost unendurable, yet down at the water's edge every man was at his peg. 1976Liverpool Echo 23 Nov. 17/8 It is the best match catch of dace from the lower reaches for several seasons and came from a peg opposite the yacht park. 1986Sea Angling Handbk. Summer 6/3 Mike Perfect..conjured ten fish from a bad peg and only lost the title through a rockling that didn't make the size limit.
i. A pin marking a limit or maximum on a dial or gauge.
1927C. A. Lindbergh We iv. 55 At the end of five minutes the needle was crowding the peg at 115°. 1953― Spirit of St. Louis ii. vi. 336 The earth-inductor compass needle is halfway to the peg! 1976Lieberman & Rhodes Compl. CB Handbk. vi. 133 On the peg, legal speed limit.
j. fig. A limit set on an exchange rate, share price, etc., to fix or stabilize the price of a commodity. Cf. peg v. 1 c. Econ.
1933Sun (Baltimore) 15 Aug. 13/4 Tomorrow the Chicago Board of Trade is scheduled to remove the ‘pegs’ which have limited fluctuations in grains. 1942R. V. Paine (title) Price peg policies. 1965McGraw–Hill Dict. Mod. Econ. 375 In July, 1947, the [Federal Reserve] System began to remove the peg by ceasing to maintain the treasury bill rate. 1975Economist 1 Mar. 75/3 There may be demands for the indexing of oil prices and severing the dollar peg. 1988Financial Times 3 Nov. 29/7 It is only with a credible exchange rate peg that the Chancellor's proposition..holds true.
k. A foot-rest on a motor-bicycle.
1983Dirt Bike Rider July 39/3 Lejeune's biggest mistake was achieved with his feet firmly on the pegs of his Honda. 1985Dirt Bike Mar. 8/2 He weighted the left peg, rolled on the throttle and let the rear end drift at just the right angle. 1987Super Bike June 59/1 The saddle is okay but the pegs are a bit too far forward.
[9.] c. U.S. colloq. A strong or vigorous throw, esp. in Baseball. Cf. *peg v. 8 c.
1910Base Ball Mag. Sept. 60/1 It's more fun playing third than short... It's easier, too,..because you don't have to make so many quick pegs. 1922Daily Press (Ardmore, Okla.) 2 May 2/2 The latter crossed safely when White dropped Fuller's peg from home. 1947E. A. McCourt Music at Close ii. iv. 105 Neil faked a throw to second..then threw to first. But his peg was wild. 1969P. Roth Portnoy's Complaint 245 In the muscle of my throwing arm, a faint throbbing from the low and beautiful pegs I have been unleashing all morning. 1985New Yorker 5 Aug. 47/3 Martinez took a peg from the outfield.
▪ II. peg, v.|pɛg|
[f. peg n.1]
I. Uses in which an actual peg is in question.
1. a. trans. To fix or make fast with a peg; to fasten with or as with a peg or pegs. Also with down, in, out, up, etc.
1598Florio, Cauicchiare,..to peg or pin in. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 295, I will rend an Oake, And peg thee in his knotty entrailes. 1664Evelyn Sylva (1679) 13 Peg it [branch] down with a hook or two. 1718Entertainer No. 19. 127 After he has mounted his Box, and methodically pegg'd his Cloak. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 23 The plants..must be trained close to the wall, or pegged to the bank as they grow. 1857F. L. Olmsted Journ. Texas 96 When the corners [of the tent] are pegged out by the flat iron pegs attached, our night quarters are ready. 1859W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 10 Framed of oak trunks split through the centre and roughly pegged together. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 416 Sometimes boots are not sewn, but pegged. 1873Tristram Moab v. 86 They..left him a whole day under a broiling sun pegged to the ground.
b. fig. To confine; to tie or bind down, to restrict.
1824–9Landor Imag. Conv., Milton & Marvel Wks. 1846 I. 123, I will not be pegged down to any plot. 1829Scott Jrnl. 17 Mar., Here are two pleasant and pretty women pegged up the whole day ‘In the worst inn's worst room’. 1872Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 219 Before he is pegged down by ancient usage.
c. fig. To fix the market-price; to prevent the price from falling by buying freely at a given price, or to prevent it from rising by selling freely. Stock Exchange slang. Also, in extended uses, to fix (a price, wage, etc.) at a certain level; to set a value on (a currency) in relation to gold or another currency; to set a numerical or quantitative limit on (something).
1882Pall Mall G. 8 Apr. 6/1 Arbitrarily raising prices against them—‘pegging prices up’, it is called. Ibid., No doubt there will be new ‘peggings up.’ 1891New York Herald 31 May 6/2 (Farmer) Portuguese have been well pegged, but other ‘Internationals’ have been featureless. 1933Ann. reg. 1932 26 Shortly afterwards the Bank rate was considerably reduced, and sterling was effectively ‘pegged’ at a gold value of about 15s. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 13 July 10/2 The British went off gold after a strenuous effort to maintain gold parity in 1931 and it can hardly be proved that England's trade balance has improved sufficiently to permit pegging the pound at any such figure. Ibid. 21 July 2/4 The market was ‘pegged’ once before this year... The fluctuations in wheat at that time were limited to 5 cents a bushel. 1940New Statesman 13 Apr. 485 The dual system..of rationing by amount and of pegging prices is anomalous. 1944Auden Sea & Mirror in For Time Being i. 5 When he learns the price is pegged to his valuation. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment 292 It is a kind of aseptic social operation, and as wages are pegged to the cost-of-living index, there is no occasion even for local strikes. 1954Birmingham (Alabama) News 17 Feb. 1/6 The old method pegged unemployment at 2,259,000 the first week in January. 1959Punch 29 Aug. 30/1 Inflation can be licked by other means, by pegging wages and profits, increasing productivity and output,..and so on. Ibid. 30/2, I have already encouraged my teen⁓agers to peg their consumption of sweets, soft drinks, records, cosmetics and cycle accessories in the hope of bringing manufacturers to heel. 1965Listener 20 May 728/1 There is room for scepticism about the machinery which is supposed to peg these rents at a ‘fair’ level. 1970Times 18 Dec. 2/5 The orchestras have had their grants pegged for three years and are in a serious position. 1971Morning Star 10 May 1/5 The mark will be allowed to float, meaning its parity will no longer be pegged against the dollar. 1977Evening Post (Nottingham) 27 Jan. 5/4 Planners hope to peg the cost of the tour at {pstlg}60 or less per tourist.
d. fig. To categorize; to form an opinion of (someone, occas. something). Freq. in phr. to have (someone or something) pegged: to have a fixed opinion of (that person or thing). N. Amer. colloq.
1920Collier's 31 July 29/2, I had him pegged from the go in for what he is—one of them tea-room boys which will stop at nothin' but work! 1926J. Black You can't Win xxi. 320 The expression, ‘I have him pegged’, which has crept into common usage, is thieves' slang..and has nothing to do with the game of cribbage. 1940J. O'Hara Pal Joey 175, I tho't I could peg a joint like that from 2 mi. away. 1949New Yorker 12 Nov. 28/3 An elderly lady..who pegged him looked back, and then winked. 1959J. Ludwig in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd. Ser. 232 Naturally Mitchell has her pegged: doesn't he know this shopping trip is a fake..? 1967M. Reynolds After Some Tomorrow 12, I peg him as a holier than thou cloddy. 1968H. Waugh Con Game ix. 91, I always knew she was a slut. An ignorant, stupid child. I pegged her from the start. 1972D. Lees Zodiac 40, I had her pegged as a bit of a nut. 1976Publishers Weekly 18 Oct. 52/1 Combine the pace of a Disney film with the reassurance of characters clearly good or evil and you will quickly peg what Nicolaysen's chase adventure has going for it.
2. To insert a peg into, provide with a peg.
†a. To insert or thrust a peg in the nose of (a swine, etc.) to prevent it from routing. Obs.
1543Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 17 §15 Unlesse the same swyne be sufficiently ringed or pegged. 1631R. Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 100 He intended to pegge or ring an hog. [Ibid., He put the pegge into the nose of the swine.]
†b. To plug; to spike (a cannon). Obs.
1551Cranmer Answ. Gardiner iii. Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 200 And I trust I have either broken your pieces, or pegged them, that you shall be able to shoot no more. 1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 60 b, Thei..broke one peece of Ordnaunce, and pegged or poysoned an other. 1747H. Glasse Cookery x. 117 Take a live lobster, boil it in salt and water, and peg it that no water gets in.
c. † (a) To broach (a cask, etc.) (obs.). (b) To provide with a vent and peg.
1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 34 (1754) 181 He peg'd several buts, and gave me a glass of each to taste. 1742Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 69 There should be first an Examination made by pegging the Vessel to prove, if such Drink is fine, the Hop sufficiently rotted, and it be mellow and well-tasted.
d. To fasten the soles on to (boots or shoes) with wooden pegs.
1850Rep. Comm. Patents 1849 (U.S.) 295 Improvement in Machines for Pegging Boots and Shoes. 1858[see pegged ppl. a.]. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 511/1 Ladies' Heavy Pegged Shoes. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 622/2 Pegged-sole shoes, a type of footwear in which the outer sole is attached to the inner sole and the upper by two or more rows of pegs; used for sea boots.
e. To insert small wooden pegs into the stalks of (tobacco).
1850Rep. Comm. Patents: Agric. 1849 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 321 ‘Pegging’ tobacco..is done by driving little pegs, about six inches long and half an inch or less square, into the stalk about four inches from the big end of the stalk. 1968Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1966 xlv. 19 It's hard work to peg tobacco.
f. Cricket. To drive pegs into (the face of a bat) (see quot. 1934).
1853F. Gale Public School Matches 17 The captain is going in. An old bat, well pegged but very clean, looks like business. 1906A. E. Knight Compl. Cricketer ii. 48 Pegging down the bat is simple, but destructive and ineffective. 1934W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket 186 To peg a bat, to drive a few small pegs into the face of a bat as a remedial measure when the grain of the wood has risen with use.
3. a. To strike or pierce with a peg; to strike with the pike of a peg-top; to transfix with a turtle-peg (peg n.1 8 a); to harpoon. b. intr. To aim at with a peg or a peg-top; to use the turtle-peg.
1740Dyche & Pardon, Peg..also to strike or hit any thing with the iron point that is fastened or put into childrens toys, called castle-tops. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. x, Attempting to peg it [a top] down into the ring. 1815Misc. in Ann. Reg. 547/2 Turtle abound amongst the islands{ddd}we could neither peg any from the boat, nor yet catch them on shore. 1828Boy's Own Bk. 12 The moment it [a peg-top] rolls out, he may take it up, and peg at those which still remain inside. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. vi, Silas pegged at him with his wooden leg. 1884Baring-Gould Mehalah xi. 156 She turned sharply round, [and] pegged at him with the umbrella.
4. a. Cribbage. To mark (the score) with pegs on a cribbage-board (also absol.); rarely, to mark the score of (a person); hence transf. to score (a given number of points).
1821[see pegging vbl. n. 1]. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 217 Dear Mossy could neither feel to deal and shuffle, nor see to peg. 1868Pardon Card Player 22 You must be careful how you peg your opponent. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 76 The Cribbage-board, which contains sixty-one holes, divided into compartments of five each, in which each player pegs or marks the game as follows. Ibid. 77 Suppose your opponent leads off with a nine, you play a six and cry ‘fifteen’, and peg two holes.
b. peg back, (a) (Racing): of a horse, to pull past, overtake (another horse); also, to gain on another horse by (a specified distance); (b) in a game: to pick up (a point or advantage) or to change (the score) so as to reduce or eliminate an opponent's lead.
1928Sunday Express 24 June 22/3 He came..in the last furlong to peg back the flying French colt. 1932New Yorker 14 May 52/2 Burgoo King pegged him back three furlongs from home. 1971Sunday Nation (Nairobi) 11 Apr. 44/4 Owen de Souza pegged one back for Blues in the dying minutes when he converted a penalty-push. 1977D. Francis Risk ii. 18 Open ditch next; Tapestry met it just right and we pegged back a length in mid-air. 1978Rugby World Apr. 4/1 The Irish side had given all Wales a fright by pegging the score back to 13–13 after the visitors had gone 13–3 in front.
5. To mark with pegs; esp. to mark the boundaries of (a piece of ground, a claim for mining or gold-digging, etc.) with pegs placed at the corners: usually peg out.
1852W. H. Hall Pract. Exp. Diggings Victoria (ed. 3) 23, I..selected an unoccupied spot..pegged out eight square feet, paid the licence-fee, and returned to my mates. 1858Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 239/1 Ranging its [a line's] further progress with the work already pegged in. 1861A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. vii. 256 An electrotype would be cast straight from the master's clay, while the stone or marble has been pegged and roughed out by his journeyman. 1890Goldfields of Victoria 17 Several other claims have been pegged out and registered. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets, etc. 102 He pegged the ground, and applied for a lease.
II. Transferred and figurative senses.
†6. To cram, gorge, glut. Obs. rare— 1.
(It is uncertain whether this is the same word.)
a1400–50Alexander 4278 Surfet vs wlattis, To pegge vs as a peny hoge þat praysis noȝt oure laȝes.
†7. To drive in as a peg by repeated blows. Obs.
1614D. Dyke Myst. Selfe-Deceiuing 354 Vnlesse wee..doe so pegge and hammer them [holy thoughts] in. a1618― Two Treat. ii. Schoole Afflict. (1618) 340 No doctrine can enter, unless it be pegged, and hammered, and knocked into vs by the fists of this sowre and crabbed schoolemaster [affliction]. 1647Trapp Comm. 2 Pet. iii. 1 So must Ministers with one Sermon peg in another.
8. a. intr. To aim with, or as with, a weapon at (or for); to drive at. b. trans. To aim (a missile) at.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Peg at Cocks, to throw at them at Shrovetide. 1830Boston Gaz. 26 Oct. 4 Roe continued ‘pegging’ at Heardson. 1875F. I. Scudamore Day Dreams 155 He ‘pegs’ for larks but is not disdainful of sparrows. 1895Francis Daughter of Soil iii. 34 She pegged a stone at me.
c. peg it: to let drive, to ‘pitch’ into. colloq.
1834Dowling Othello Trav. ii. v, You peg it into him, and pray don't spare him. 1889Lic. Vict. Gaz. 18 Jan. (Farmer), Peg it into him, snacks.
d. trans. Of a pointer or setter: To point at, set (a game bird).
1892Field 7 May 695/1 Then Satin found birds, and directly after pegged a single bird that Crab had passed. Ibid. 695/3 Directly after he pegged birds properly, making a good point.
9. intr. To make one's way with vigour or haste. Also with away, off, etc. dial. and colloq.
1808–18Jamieson, To Peg off, or away, to go off quickly. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Peg-away, to move hastily. 1859Blackw. Mag. Mar. 305/2 Fleeing..with a ‘rapidité sans égal’, pegging away with a unanimity that was really delightful. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am iii, Geoffrey Blake pegged along the hard road of industrious poverty till he came to the Temple of Fortune. 1884Le Fanu in Temple Bar Mag. Aug. 484 Away with me out of the hall⁓door..and down the street I pegged like a madman.
10. intr. To work on persistently, to ‘hammer’ away; esp. peg away; also peg on, peg along. colloq.
1805Stagg Misc. Poems 132 I' th' meanteyme th' fiddlers changt an playt As hard as they cud peg. 1809Malkin Gil Blas iv. xi. ⁋6 Slices of roast meat, at which we began pegging with all possible pertinacity. 1818Keats Let. 24 Jan. (1958) I. 216 The musicians began pegging & fagging away at an overture. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxx, The particular friends resumed their attack upon the breakfast... ‘Peg away, Bob’, said Mr. Allen to his companion, encouragingly. 1862Thackeray Philip vii. 1864A. Lincoln in Leland Life xi. 196 [Lincoln, when asked what we should do if the war should last for years, replied] ‘We'll keep pegging away’. 1867J. R. Green Lett. ii. (1901) 172 It is no good pegging away at one little point. 18..Amer. Hebrew XXXIX. 52 (C.D.) We have gradually worked and pegged along year by year. 1882‘Mark Twain’ Lett. to Publishers (1967) 158, I still lack about 30,000 words... I shall peg along, day by day. 1892Spectator 16 July 83/2 Mr. Field pegged on 'till the annual value of the paper..had become {pstlg}160. 1956People 13 May 1/6, I have just kept pegging away year after year. 1978L. Deighton SS-GB xiv. 115 How I envied you doing Greats, while I pegged away at my Civil Law.
11. trans. (See quot.) slang.
1819Moore Tom Crib 80, I first was hir'd to peg a Hack. Note, To drive a hackney coach.
12. intr. To consume pegs (peg n.1 6), tipple. slang.
1873in Slang Dict. 1901Blackw. Mag. Nov. 601/1 Samuel has an Indian liver. He pegs.
III. 13. peg out: see also 1, 5. a. trans. (?) To exclude entirely. Obs.
1672–3Marvell Reh. Transp. II. 262 You have made my Lord Summus Pontifex and Pontifex Maximus to..the pegging out of the Prince.
b. Croquet. To put (a ball) out by making it hit the winning-peg.
1875J. D. Heath Croquet Player 48 A rover may be pegged out by the adversary, but only if he be a rover also.
c. To pay or give out (a line, etc.). dial.
1895Nicholson Kilwuddie 160 (E.D.D.) Let her gang—Grannie! peg oot the line.
d. intr. Cribbage. To win the game by reaching the last holes before the ‘show’ of hands.
1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 81 He may with a very poor hand be just able to ‘show’ or peg out.
e. intr. To peg or pitch one's tent.
1898‘R. Boldrewood’ Rom. Canvass Town 5 The bright idea of ‘pegging out’ struck some smart pilgrim.
f. To die; to be ruined. slang.
1855Herald of Freedom (Lawrence, Kansas) 29 Sept. 2/5 Both parties are badly cut, and we are happy to state that the free-soiler is in a fair way to ‘peg out’, while the pro⁓slavery man is out and ready for another ‘tilt’. 1870Echo 10 Mar. (Farmer), Then..the heart-broken man exclaimed, ‘Oh, George, George, why did you peg out?’ 1882J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xxii, When old Tabanaka pegs out, you'll be chief for certain. 1899M. Kingsley W. African Stud. i. 7 Then follows full details of the pegging-out of J. and his funeral, &c.
g. trans. To hang (washing) with pegs from a clothes-line.
1922D. H. Lawrence England, my England 102 Helped his wife to peg out the washing on the clothes line in the meadow. 1974Country Life 21 Mar. 633/1 The fore⁓ground girls selfconsciously pegging out the washing. 1978J. Thomson Question of Identity xii. 115 Betty Lovell was pegging out sheets on a washing-line.
Add:[I.] [5.] b. Angling. To mark out (a stretch of river-bank) with pegs indicating positions from which competitors are to fish; to allot a position to (an angler) in this way. Cf. *peg n.1 2 g.
1902Fishing Gaz. 13 Sept. 191/1 The contestants were pegged out ten yards apart. 1927‘Float & Fly’ Fishing Matches ii. 8 A good fisherman will usually overcome the drawback of a bad swim, always given that the water has been pegged out in a reasonable manner. 1947‘Cheshire Roamer’ Beginner's Guide Match Fishing iv. 15 Before the match can take place the river bank has to be ‘pegged out’. Ibid., The man who pegs the bank should be an angler of some experience. 1986Sea Angling Handbk. Summer 6/3 Dave was pegged at fancied Holland Road and dinked out small flounders and rockling. 1987Match Fishing Feb./Mar. 34/3 In both matches we've been pegged next to the winning team.
[II.] [8.] c. spec. in Baseball (U.S. colloq.), to throw (the ball) hard and low; to stop or put out (a runner) with such a throw. Also absol.
1862N.Y. Sunday Mercury 13 July 6/1 Peter then pegged the ball in good old style, but this time raised it too high. 1908Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide 87 The catcher could not peg the Chicago base-runners. 1917C. Mathewson Second Base Sloan xi. 146 You peg the ball across like you were looking where you were sending it. 1939Sat. Even. Post 7 Oct. 29/1 Many an enemy outfit with a fast and smart defense, will have you eating passes before quitting time if you can't do anything but peg to second base. 1986L. B. Smedes Choices 57 If you take a third strike in baseball and the catcher drops the ball, you may make a run for first base. You will hardly ever get there before the catcher pegs the ball to the first baseman. |