bugn.¹

Brit.

/bʌɡ/, U.S.

/bəɡ/

Forms: late Middle English–1600s (1800s Scottish) bugge, 1500s–1700s bugg, 1500s– bug, 1800s boog (English regional (Leicestershire)).

Origin: Of unknown origin.

Etymology: Origin unknown. Perhaps compare bog n.² and bogy n.¹, and compare also discussion at puck n.¹Compare Welsh bwgan (1547: see buggane n.) and bwg (early 17th cent.), both denoting a kind of supernatural being, of uncertain origin. The late date of the Welsh word suggests that it is probably < English. Compare also (apparently with a suffix forming diminutives) Irish bocán , Scottish Gaelic bòcan , Manx boagane , buggane goblin (compare buggane n.), all denoting a kind of supernatural being, of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately < a Germanic language. Perhaps compare also (apparently with a further derivative suffix) Early Irish bocánach , kind of supernatural being associated with battle. It is possible that these Celtic words ultimately all go back to reflexes of the possible Germanic base discussed at puck n.¹, although the exact routes of transmission are unclear. An alternative suggestion that sense 2 shows a separate word, borrowed < Norwegian regional bugge influential person (see big adj.), cannot be substantiated.

1. An imaginary evil spirit or creature; a bogeyman. Also: an object or source of (esp. needless) fear or dread; an imaginary terror. Cf. scare-bug n., bugbear n. 2. Now rare.In quot. a1425: a scarecrow. †to take bug (English regional (midlands)): (of a horse) to shy, take fright (obsolete). Cf. to take buggane at buggane n., to take buggart at buggart n.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing physical symptoms > [noun] > scarecrow or device for scaring birds

buga1425

scarlec1440

scare1530

blencher1531

shail1531

fray-boggard1535

malkinc1565

clacket1594

bogle-bo1603

scarecrow1606

blinks1611

clap-mill1613

shaw-fowl1621

dudman1670

hobidy-booby?1710

cherry-clapper1763

flay-crake1788

potato-bogle1815

cherry-clack1824

feather-piea1825

flay-crow1824

gally-baggar1825

gally-crow1825

bogle1830

deadman1839

hodmandod1881

scarer1930

the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > quality of terribleness > [noun] > one who or that which terrifies > object of terror (usually imaginary)

buga1425

buggart1440

gay horse1483

bogle?1507

chimera?1521

bog1527

terriculament1548

bugbear1552

bull-bear1561

hag1563

boggard1574

scare-bug1583

bull-beggar1584

kill-cow fray1589

poker1598

bug-boy1601

bogle-bo1603

mormo1605

mock-beggar1611

mormolukee1624

Tom Poker1673

raw-head1678

hobgoblin1709

bugaboo1733

Tom Po1744

spectre1774

bogy-man1862

bogy1865

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Baruch vi. 69 (MED) As a bugge either a man of raggis [L. formido] in a place where gourdis wexen kepith no thing, so ben her goddis of tree.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 55 Bugge, or buglarde, maurus, ducius.

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. xviii. sig. D.vii Leste there happe to be such blacke bugges in dede as folke cal deuilles.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xc[i]. 5 Thou shalt not nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night.

1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. ii. xvi. §1. 299 A bugge meete onely to frate Children.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vii. xlii. 370/1 Champions against the maried Clergie, (for women in those dayes were great bugs in their eyes).

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) v. ii. 2 Warwicke was a Bugge that fear'd vs all.

1668 J. Glanvill Blow at Mod. Sadducism 149 Timerous Fools, that are afraid of Buggs.

1719 T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth II. 306 Let the bug Predestination Fright the Fools no better know.

a1841 T. Sharp Select. Gloss. Provinc. Words Warwickshire (1865) Bug, to take, to take fright, very generally applied to a startlish horse.

1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words at Boog I didn't know whether your horse turned round of his own accord, or whether he took boog.

1870 Once a Week 1 Jan. 501/2 The bug is not only a bugbear but the representative of Bogie.

1915 D. Beard Amer. Boys' Bk. of Bugs, Butterflies & Beetles 7 Bugs..stood for some imaginary hobgoblins or terrible nightmare things which never had any existence out of dreamland.

1993 P. Ackroyd House of Dr. Dee (1994) 76 Those were times of..the spoor, the hell-wain, Boneless and other such bugs of the night and the mist.

2. A self-important, pompous, or conceited person; a pre-eminent or powerful person. In later use only in big bug n. at big adj. and adv. Compounds 2.In later use probably often perceived as a use of bug n.² Cf. also bug adj.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > one who is important > one who is self important

bug1536

his nibs1821

panjandrum1825

prima ballerina1923

I AM1926

cheese1965

the mind > emotion > pride > self-importance > [noun] > person

bug1536

bladder1579

God almighty1632

cockalorumc1796

his nibs1821

prima donna1834

fly on the (coach-)wheel1840

high muck-a-muck1856

nobs1877

high muckety-muck1882

muckamuck1883

Pooh Bah1886

prima ballerina1923

I AM1926

muckety-muck1927

Pooter1957

cheese1965

1536 T. Revel tr. F. Lambert Summe Christianitie sig. A.vii^v The symple people, haue the iudgement of the spirite aboue al suche proude bugges [L. larvas] the whiche we call Magistrinostri.

1603 T. Robinson Schoole of Musicke sig. C I haue knowne some..who haue striuen to finde out stops, both vnnaturall, vnpleasant, and vnvsuall, (forsooth to be thought great bugges) that haue in all their liues, not bene able to play euen but an easie lesson..at the first sight.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 208 That I'm nine times as good a man as he, or e'er a bug of his country.

1843 T. C. Haliburton Attaché II. ix. 163 We'll go to the Lord's House..pick out the big bugs.

1887 Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Oct. 9/1 Moral: This being a Democratic country, always get solid with the titled bugs of the earth, that thy days may be long in the land.

1908 A. Huxley Let. Nov. (1969) i. 29 Julian and Trev are coming I think. They are dreadful bugs now, so am I for that matter. I look so chic in tail coats..and white ties.

1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief viii. 300 He seems to have been quite a big bug under the Emperor. Ran the army for him.

2004 B. Dylan Chronicles I. iii. 115 The big bugs in the press kept promoting me as the mouthpiece, spokesman, or even conscience of a generation.

Phrases

† to swear by no bugs: to take a genuine oath; to swear sincerely. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1575 G. Gascoigne Dan Bartholmew (new ed.) in Posies p. xcix The messenger sware by no bugges I trowe.

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 15^v Caligula..bid his horse to supper,..& swore by no bugs, that he would make him a Consul.

Compounds

† bug-law n. Obsolete a law causing or intended to cause fear.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > types of laws > [noun] > law intended to inspire terror

bug-law1692

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lxxi. 70 'Tis much the same Case too, betwixt the People, and Bugg-Laws, and Acts of State, that it is here betwixt the Fox and the Lyon.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

bugn.²

Brit.

/bʌɡ/, U.S.

/bəɡ/

Forms: 1500s–1600s bugge, 1600s–1700s bugg, 1600s– bug.

Origin: Of unknown origin.

Etymology: Origin unknown.Perhaps a transferred sense of bug n.¹, insects being taken to resemble typical representations of monsters or the monstrous, although early examples show no clear evidence of such association. Sense 1 also appears to show either connection or confusion with earlier budde n. and boud n., which occur in similar senses: beside sharn-bug n. compare earlier sharnbud n.; see also ladybug n. and discussion at ladybird n. In sense 9 perhaps arising as a playful alteration of compounds in boy n.¹ (compare e.g. new bug n. at new adj. and n. Compounds 2a beside earlier new boy n., daybug n. at day n. Compounds 3 beside earlier day-boy n. at day n. Compounds 3), probably with depreciative allusion to the inferior size and status of younger schoolboys, and intended to imply that they are perceived as pests.

I. An insect or other arthropod.

1. Any small insect or larva that is considered to be a pest. Also more widely (now chiefly U.S.): any insect or other small arthropod (e.g. a spider or centipede), esp. a beetle.croton bug, harvest bug, June bug, May bug, sowbug, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > unspecified

breezea1300

drumblec1350

gagrill14..

bug1594

bud-cutter1693

butter-cutter1704

cane-fly1750

whistle-insect1760

bush-worm1796

gogga1909

nunu1913

minibeast1973

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > eggs or young > [noun] > young or development of young > larva

niteOE

wormOE

grubc1420

canker1440

caterpillarc1440

cankerworm1530

mad1573

bug1594

blote1657

vermicle1657

hexapod1668

grub-worm1752

truffle-worm1753

larva1768

larve1822

1594 Hester's Pearle of Pract. i. xxxii. 14 This medecine caused many times, a certaine blacke bugge, or worme to come forth which had many legs, & was quicke.

1642 D. Rogers Naaman 74 Gods rare workmanship in the Ant, the poorest bugge that creeps.

1691 J. Ray S. & E. Country Words in Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 90 Bugge, any insect of the Scarabæi kind. It is, I suppose, a word of general use.

1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists ii. iv. 127 The Bug which breeds the Butterfly.

1785 G. Washington Diaries II. 404 Indeed some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to prey upon the leaves before I left home.

1856 Sat. Rev. 2 258/1 In the field bug we have an instance, etc.

1860 R. W. Emerson Power in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 53 A good tree..will grow in spite of blight, or bug.

c1880 J. G. Whittier in Harper's Mag. (1883) Feb. 358/1 A big black bug came flying in.

1928 Cent. Mag. Aug. 405/2 And as for Arizona—the bugs and the alkali—I thought I'd crack.

1961 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing (ed. 9) ii. 137 Tiny bugs skim over the water-surface.

2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 May a13 (advt.) Bio Blitzing in the Boroughs. Kids and families get dirty exploring ants, bugs, worms and all things crawly in two New York parks.

a. The bedbug, Cimex lectularius. Sometimes also: any insect of the bedbug family, Cimicidae. Now rare.Formerly known as wall-louse or punaise.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Heteroptera > member of Capsidae or Miridae > cimex lectularius (bed-bug)

punaisec1530

wall-louse1540

cimex1585

bug1622

chincha1640

want-louse1655

wiglouse1658

bedbug1740

B. flat1853

Norfolk Howard1862

mahogany flat1864

1622 T. Dekker & P. Massinger Virgin Martir iii. sig. H^v Harpax... Come let my bosome touch you. Spungius. We haue bugges Sir.

1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 588 The Original of these Creatures called Bugs, is from Putrifaction.

1730 J. Southall Treat. Buggs 1 Buggs have been known to be in England above sixty Years, and every Season increasing upon us.

1778 Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser 10 July A valuable and useful Companion..containing safe and quick methods of destroying Bugs, Lice, Fleas..Frogs, Pismires, [etc.].

1848 R. Aughtie Diary 2 Sept. in B. Harley & J. Harley Gardener at Chatsworth (1992) 119 Went to bed very tired—slept very little, being very much annoyed by bugs.

1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elements Med. Zool. ii. iv. i. 219 The Cimicidæ, or Bugs, belong to the order Hemiptera.

1877 L. A. Duhring Pract. Treat. Dis. Skin 599 The best preventives against bugs in beds are corrosive sublimate and pyrethrum powder.

1918 L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 104 It is very essential to keep these [hammock] nettings clean and free from rats, bugs or roaches.

1954 F. C. Lane All about Insect World 62 In England, when people mention bugs, which they seldom do, they mean bedbugs only.

b. Any of the other insects constituting the large order Hemiptera, characterized by sucking and piercing mouthparts and incomplete metamorphosis, and including leafhoppers, aphids, cicadas, and many others.The Hemiptera are often known as the ‘true bugs’, though that term may also be restricted to the suborder Heteroptera. The other traditional suborder, Homoptera, is now often split into three paraphyletic suborders.assassin bug, kissing bug, leaf bug, shield bug, water bug, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > member of

bardan1572

bug1771

hemipter1828

hemipteran1877

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Heteroptera > member of

bardan1572

bug-fly1712

bug1771

1771 Encycl. Brit. II. 199/2 Cimex, or Bug, in zoology, a genus of insects belonging to the order of hemiptera. Linnæus enumerates no less than 121 species.

1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xvii. 403 An attack (for it deserves no less a name) of the Benchuca..the great black bug of the Pampas.

1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §721 The Geocorisæ or Land-Bugs, and the Hydrocorisæ or Water-Bugs.

1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elements Med. Zool. ii. vi. v. 304. Some writers have compared them [sc. bedbugs] to the Bugs, which they resemble somewhat in their general appearance.

1927 F. Balfour-Browne Insects i. 25 The bugs have developed such elaborate mouth-parts that the labium has become a long trough in which lie the mandibles and maxillæ.

1978 G. B. Williams Pest Extermination Handbk. vi. 55 Bedbugs are Hemiptera, as are all true bugs.

2014 Observer 13 Apr. (New Review section) 24/5 The authors offer a comprehensive review of ‘bugs’, Hemiptera, associated with bromeliads for shelter or food.

II. Extended uses.

3. derogatory. A contemptible or dishonest person. In later use chiefly: an annoying person; a pest, a nuisance.In early use †spec. (in Irish use): an English person (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > [noun] > cause of annoyance or vexation > one who or that which annoys

noyera1382

annoyancec1405

offender?a1425

fretter?1504

traik1513

vexer1530

annoying1566

annoyer1577

plagueship1628

annoyancer1632

disobliger1648

nuisance1661

galler1674

bug1785

torment1785

botheration1801

nark1846

scunner1865

bother1866

botherer1869

crucifier1870

dinlo1873

bastard1919

skelf1927

dick1966

wazzock1976

knob jockey1989

society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > dishonesty > dishonest person

shondc725

makeshift1554

roundabout1605

fraudsman1613

trickster1711

bug1785

fly-by-night1796

twister1834

rigger1859

shyster1877

crook1879

heel1914

wide boy1937

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 225 [One writer] who presumed to make strictures upon one of his performances, he holds as a bug in criticism, whose stench is more offensive than his sting.]

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Bug, a nick name given by the Irish to Englishmen; bugs having (it is said) been introduced into Ireland by the English.

?1790 Patrick's Day in Carlow Lass 3 But we made the Bugs for to remember, The 17th of March when each brave member, Did oil their hides with Irish timber.

1834 Morning Courier & N.Y. Enquirer 5 June 2/2 Three young bugs have been committed to prison..for breaking into the Methodist and Unitarian churches.

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxiii. 232 S'pose he opened his mouth..? If he didn't shut it up powerful quick he'd lose a lie, every time. That's the kind of a bug Henry [VIII] was.

1952 W. D. Overholser Fabulous Gunman iv. 40 Was it Chapman who touched the match to the fuse, the ‘miserable bug of a man’, determined to show everybody that he was more than Nita thought he was?

1973 J. D. MacDonald Turquoise Lament xv. 238 You're a bug like Brindle. You're rotten! You know that? You've got a cold heart.

2015 P. A. O'Reilly Wonders 103 He was sure they would..give him a brusque response that left no doubt about their wish to be rid of this annoying bug.

4. colloquial (originally U.S.).

a. A person with an obsessive or enthusiastic interest in something. Frequently with modifying word indicating the object of obsession or enthusiasm. Cf. bugs adj. 2.money bug, shutter-bug, speed bug, etc.: see the first element.See also firebug n. 2, jitterbug n., squander-bug n.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] > temporary desire > one who has temporary desire

bug1841

1841 Congress. Globe June 133 Mr. Alford of Georgia warned the ‘tariff bugs’ of the South that..he would read them out of church.

1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 18 Apr. (Mag. section) 1/2 There are no more critical people than what are generally classified as baseball ‘bugs’.

1921 Pacific Radio News Oct. 99/1 He must be a friend because he says he is a radio bug.

1930 Pittsburgh Courier 20 Dec. ii. 5/1 So one-sided was the fight that hundreds of bugs left the arena as early as the twelfth round.

1971 J. D. Horan Blue Messiah vi. 65 That son of a bitch Farrell's a bug on kids talkin' in the halls.

1988 M. Bradbury Unsent Lett. 84 Maybe we could exchange snaps, if you're a camera bug too, like me.

2015 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 4 July 24 Is your child a music bug?

b. Usually with the. An obsessive or enthusiastic interest in something. Frequently with modifying word indicating the object of obsession or enthusiasm.Sometimes in figurative expressions alluding to illness or insects, as to catch a bug or to be bitten by a bug.travel bug: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] > temporary desire

frenzy1632

mania1689

furor1704

influenza1773

rage1780

furore1790

monomania1834

bug1887

craze1887

enthusiasm1895

1887 Boston Daily Globe 28 Nov. 1/8 Like other better people before me, I had been bitten by the gold bug, and now had to take the consequences.

1899 C. L. Cullen in Sun (N.Y.) 2 July 4/3 When you get the gambling bug in combination with the rum bug, you're in trouble and plenty of it.

1937 N. Coward Present Indicative ix. 377 Bushell and Guerrier, having firmly inoculated me with the naval bug, obtained permission from their captain..for us both to travel..with them.

1942 Motor Boating Apr. 67/1 I think men who get the bug to build a boat will build it even if they have to build it in an air raid shelter.

1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway xii. 303 I love being on aerodromes and seeing aeroplanes. It's a sort of bug that gets in you.

1952 ‘H. Grey’ Hoods xliv. 331 You still got that bug in your head? To clip the Federal Reserve bank?

1959 Which? Dec. 171 A boy bitten by the railway bug.

2000 Independent (Nexis) 9 Nov. 4 Perhaps he will catch the acting bug and go on to play a detective inspector in The Bill.

5. Originally U.S.

a. A defect or fault in a machine (esp. an electrical or electronic one), or in a process, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [noun] > an imperfection > defect or fault or flaw

faultc1320

breckc1369

villainyc1400

offencec1425

defectc1450

defection1526

vitiosity1538

faintness1543

gall1545

eelist1549

mar1551

hole1553

blemish1555

wart1603

flaw1604

mulct1632

wound1646

failurea1656

misfeature1818

bug1875

out1886

1875 Operator 15 Aug. 5/1 The biggest ‘bug’ yet has been discovered in the U.S. Hotel Electric Annunciator.

1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Mar. 1/1 Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his phonograph—an expression for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble.

1935 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 39 43 Casting, forging and riveting are processes hundreds of years old, and, to use an Americanism, ‘have the bugs ironed out of them’.

1956 ‘N. Shute’ Beyond Black Stump v. 138 They worked..until the rig had settled down and all the bugs had been ironed out.

2007 Flying Aug. 57/2 It takes time to work the bugs out of most all-new airplane designs.

b. Computing. An error or other cause of malfunction in a computer program, piece of software, etc.

ΚΠ

1952 Rev. Electronic Digital Computers (Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers) 18/2 The week we spent in getting the last bug out of our instruction program was an investment we hated to have to make.

1971 Guardian 1 Nov. 6/4 The new computer was delivered..last week... Ironing out the bugs will probably take until the new year.

1985 P. Laurie Databases i. 35 Every piece of software ever written has ‘bugs’ in it.

1995 J. Miller Voxpop x. 149 I have to test them all for faults and bugs and to see whether every game and stage is possible—especially for sophisticated [computer] games.

2008 New Scientist 23 Feb. 24/1 All software can contain bugs or flaws, and researchers routinely find them in their programs.

6. colloquial (originally U.S.).

a. A harmful microorganism or virus; a germ. Cf. superbug n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > organism > micro-organism > [noun]

microphyte1859

microzoon1859

microzoary1863

mycetes1874

spore1876

microbe1880

microorganism1880

microzooid1881

microbion1883

bug1885

macrospore1888

microzoan1890

microzoarian1890

zymophyte1890

germ1897

bot1937

probiotic1974

1885 Trans. Mich. State Med. Soc. 9 177 He..Knew all the mysteries of bacterian skill, And never let a micrococcus grow When he had ample power the bug to kill.

1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 58 Disease-germs are sometimes referred to as bugs.

1941 J. Cary House of Children lxvii. 279 May I get into your bed, Harry?—I'm freezing. I won't breathe any of my bugs on you.

2001 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 16 June 9 You need a good scrub with soap and water to kill the bugs.

b. An illness, esp. one caused by a microorganism or virus.flu bug, stomach bug, tummy bug: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > [noun]

unhealc700

untrumnessc897

adleeOE

sicknessc967

cothec1000

unhealthc1000

woe?a1200

ail?c1225

lying?c1225

maladyc1275

unsoundc1275

feebless1297

languora1375

languishc1384

disease1393

aegritudea1400

lamea1400

maleasea1400

soughta1400

wilc1400

malefaction?a1425

firmityc1426

unwholesomenessc1449

ill1450

languenta1500

distemperancea1535

the valley of the shadow of death1535

affect?1537

affection?1541

distemperature1541

inability1547

sickliness1565

languishment1576

cause1578

unhealthfulness1589

crazedness1593

languorment1593

evilness1599

strickenness1599

craziness1602

distemper1604

unsoundness1605

invaletude1623

unhealthiness1634

achaque1647

unwellness1653

disailment1657

insalubrity1668

faintiness1683

queerness1687

invalidity1690

illness1692

ill health1698

ailment1708

illing1719

invalescence1724

peakingness1727

sickishness1727

valetudinariness1742

ailingness1776

brash1786

invalidism1794

poorliness1814

diseasement1826

invalidship1830

valetudinarianism1839

ailing1862

invalidhood1863

megrims1870

pourriture1890

immersement1903

bug1918

condition1920

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > [noun]

soreOE

cothec1000

sicknessc1000

evilc1275

maladyc1275

grievance1377

passiona1382

infirmityc1384

mischiefa1387

affectiona1398

grievinga1398

grief1398

sicka1400

case?a1425

plaguec1425

diseasea1475

alteration1533

craze1534

uncome1538

impediment1542

affliction?1555

ailment1606

disaster1614

garget1615

morbus1630

ail1648

disaffect1683

disorder1690

illness1692

trouble1726

complaint1727

skookum1838

claim1898

itis1909

bug1918

wog1925

crud1932

bot1937

lurgy1947

Korean haemorrhagic fever1951

nadger1956

1918 Alton (Illinois) Evening Tel. 30 Oct. 11/5 We've got the bug, the doctor said; He looked with eyes so keen At every single soldier's throat And ordered quarantine.

1919 W. A. Fraser Bulldog Carney iii. 129 ‘Gee! now I will get well,’ he said; ‘I'll beat the bug out now—I'll have heart.’

1953 K. Ferrier Let. 30 Mar. (2003) vii. 189 I should have gone three days ago but caught a bug from somewhere and a temperature and a very queasy stomach.

2009 Independent 21 Apr. 14/2 The sickness..is believed to have been caused by a winter vomiting bug spread by staff.

7. U.S. slang. An irrational, foolish, or insane person.Cf. bugs adj. 1, bug-crazy adj. at Compounds 2b, betsy bug n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > mentally ill person > [noun] > mad person

woodman1297

madmanc1330

lunatic1377

franticc1380

madwomana1438

March harec1500

Bedlam beggar1525

fanaticc1525

bedlama1529

frenetic1528

Jack o' Bedlam1528

Tom o' Bedlam1569

crack-brain1570

madbrain1570

Tom1575

madcap1589

gelt1596

madhead1600

brainsick1605

madpash1611

non compos1628

madling1638

bedlam-man1658

bedlamerc1675

fan1682

bedlamite1691

cracka1701

lymphatic1708

shatter-brain1719

mad1729

maniaca1763

non compos mentis1765

shatter-pate1775

shatter-wit1775

insane1786

craze1831

dement1857

crazy1867

crackpot1883

loony1884

bug1885

psychopath1885

dingbat1887

psychopathic1890

ding-a-ling1899

meshuggener1900

détraqué1902

maddiea1903

nut1908

mental1913

ding1929

lakes1934

wack1938

fruitcake1942

nutty1942

barm-pot1951

nutcake1953

nutter1958

nutcase1959

nut job1959

meshuga1962

nutsy1964

headcase1965

nutball1968

headbanger1973

nutso1975

wacko1977

nut bar1978

mentalist1990

1885 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Great Smoky Mountains x. 201 Them crazy bugs in N-N-Nashval sent him a book ev'y time they made a batch o' new laws.

c1906 ‘Sleepy’ Burke Prison Gates Ajar ii. 9 I..was landed in a ‘nut college’ (insane asylum). It was the custom then to take the ‘bugs’ (inmates) out to play ball every afternoon.

1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side 232 Hundreds of bugs loaded with gold,..willing to pay somebody to make them happy.

1974 R. Stone Dog Soldiers 64 What about that bug up in Yellowstone Park? He had his pockets full of human finger bones.

2001 C. Stroud Black Water Transit (2002) 130 He's a bug, a psycho, a stone-cold killer.

8. In plural. slang (originally U.S.). Biology, as a subject of study; spec. bacteriology, or a department for this. Now somewhat rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > study > [noun] > biology

biology1799

organomy1801

physiognosya1832

biological science1856

organonomy1857

life science1861

biognosy1880

bugs1900

bioscience1941

bio1943

1900 Dial. Notes 2 16 The subject of biology is also called bugs.

1933 E. Partridge Slang To-day & Yesterday iii. 191 Bugs, according to the context, bacteria or bacteriology.

1963 New Society 22 Aug. 5/2 ‘Bugs’ may still be used for biology.

1974 P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry vii. 62 Bugs..can stand for the whole bacteriology department (‘I work in bugs’, ‘Take this beast to bugs’).

9. British School slang (usually mildly depreciative). Chiefly at a boarding school: a pupil or student, esp. one who is younger or considered inferior in status.Frequently with defining word or phrase, as boarder bug, grammar school bug, etc.daybug, new bug: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > child > boy > [noun]

knightc893

knapec1000

knaveOE

knape childc1175

knave-childa1225

groom?c1225

knight-bairnc1275

pagec1300

mana1382

swainc1386

knave-bairna1400

little mana1425

man-childa1438

boy1440

little boya1475

lad1535

boykin1540

tomboya1556

urchin1556

loonc1560

kinchin-co(ve)1567

big boy1572

dandiprat1582

pricket1582

boy child1584

callant1597

suck-egg1609

nacketc1618

custrel1668

hospital-boy1677

whelp1710

laddie1721

charity-boy1723

pam-child1760

chappie1822

bo1825

boyo1835

wagling1837

shirttail boy1840

boysie1846

umfaan1852

nipper1859

yob1859

fellow-my-lad?1860

laddo1870

chokra1875

shegetz1885

spalpeen1891

spadger1899

bug1900

boychick1921

sonny boy1928

sonny1939

okie1943

lightie1946

outjie1961

oke1970

1900 J. S. Farmer Public School Word-bk. 139 New-bug, a new boy.

1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 29 Day-bugs and boarder-bugs.

1936 A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza vi. 63 It really wasn't right to treat New Bugs the way he did—as though they were equals.

1987 Private Eye 2 Oct. 23/1 To well-brought-up Tories this simply shows him up as a grammar school bug, too keen by half.

2005 ‘A. Halam’ Siberia iv. 72 In third year..they [sc. the wardens] didn't patrol the dorms through the night the way they did with the younger Bugs.

10. U.S. Horse Racing. A weight allowance given to an apprentice jockey, typically for the first year of racing. Hence also (occasionally): an apprentice jockey. Often attributive. [Probably originally (like sense 9) in allusion to small size. Quot. 2003 probably shows a later rationalization of the origin of this sense.]

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [noun] > required or suitable weight of rider > deduction

allowance1802

bug1908

1908 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 7 Nov. 8/3 Jockey Upton has lost his ‘bug’.

1929 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 19 Sept. 28/1 A ‘bug rider’ is a boy with an apprentice allowance... The bug is that five-pound allowance granted to all apprentice riders.

1935 San Mateo (Calif.) Times 20 Nov. 9/6 Local racing brought out fairly competent ‘bug’ boys.

1969 N.Y. Times 16 Mar. s10/5 Without the bug, Thomas is lucky to get two or three mounts a day.

1987 J. Hoppe Pretty Penny Farm v. 71 I shovel out the stables and hang around the bugs.

2003 S. D. Price Horseman's Illustr. Dict. 9/1 Allowances are indicated in racetrack programs by one or more asterisks... Because the asterisk resembles an insect, apprentices are known as bug boys.

III. Technical uses.

11. A key in a telegraph or Morse code machine, typically in the form of a lever that pivots horizontally, which causes a continuous series of dots or dashes to be transmitted for as long as it is pressed. Now rare and historical. [Apparently so called on account of a beetle on the logo of Vibroplex, the manufacturer of such a device.]

ΚΠ

1910 Commerc. Telegraphers' Jrnl. Oct. 323/2 Why should operators object to buying or renting typewriters when they foolishly buy the sending bug?

1952 Railroad Mag. Aug. 12/2 I've got an old bug that's worth about thirty cents on the open market, but I'd have to be pretty hungry to sell her at any price.

2015 J. R. Walker Crack of Bat vii. 151 Western Union operators were stationed at Major and Minor League parks throughout the country, sending Morse code, dots-and-dashes descriptions of the game using a ‘bug’.

12. Originally and chiefly U.S. Any of various small cars resembling or modified to resemble a bug (sense 1); now spec. (often with capital initial) a Volkswagen Type 1 car, or a subsequent development of this model; a beetle (beetle n.² 2c).A proprietary name.

ΚΠ

1919 S. Lewis Free Air iii. 21 It was a tin beetle of a car; that agile, cheerful, rut-jumping model known as a ‘bug’.

1925 Mich. Manufacturer & Financial Rec. 29 Aug. 8/1 Continental Motors Corporation has imported from England a standard model of the type of small ‘bug’ car widely used in Europe.

1939 Safety Jan. 16/1 Bug, car from which body has been removed and replaced by some odd-shaped or streamlined body.

1941 Washington Post 16 Mar. b9/1 The little ‘Bantam-car’, ‘bug’, ‘jeep’, etc., as it is variously known to the troops, seems destined to become the spearhead of the Army's mechanized units.

1956 Pop. Mech. Sept. 153/1 With typical thoroughness, the VW engineers designed a fleet of ships just to haul the little ‘bugs’.

1981 PR Newswire (Nexis) 14 May The Volkswagen Beetle, the most-produced car in history, will set another record Friday when the 20 millionth Bug rolls off the line.

2008 S. Meaney Perfectly Imperfect 78 I remember..in my late teens, after buying my first car, a 1974 blue Volkswagen Bug, feeling a true sense of freedom.

13. U.S. slang. A burglar alarm. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > [noun] > alarm signal generally > burglar-alarm

burglar-alarm1840

bug1920

1920 Evening Rev. (E. Liverpool, Ohio) 24 Sept. 1/1 A bunch of ‘yeggs’ tampered with ‘The Bug’ on a bank and then ‘beat it’.

1921 Princeton (Indiana) Daily Democrat 12 Jan. 1/7 Warning of day or night attempts at bank robbery will be given by means of an electrically operated siren... The device..is decorated with a bug, the name of ‘bug’ having been given the device by yeggmen.

1950 H. E. Goldin Dict. Amer. Underworld Lingo 35/2 There ain't no bug on this joint... Let's charge out (go to work).

1979 V. Patrick Pope of Greenwich Village iii. 29 They had a bug on one of the inside doors.

14. North American. A small makeshift lantern. Also: a torch. Cf. bug light n. (b) at Compounds 2b. Now rare.

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the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > torch > [noun]

blazec1000

torchc1290

lampa1382

flambec1430

shaft?c1450

cresset1578

brandon?1614

mussal1698

ruffy1793

torch-brand1825

bug1924

the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > [noun] > lamp > lantern > small

bowet1440

bug light1835

bug1924

1924 M. H. Mason Arctic Forests 239 Harry lighted the ‘bug’, and for the next few long, dark hours I was blindly holding the sled up... In front of me danced the vague shadow of Harry and the dim light thrown before him by the ‘bug’.

1931 Motor Boating Feb. 238/2 Take a..miner's bug for lighting camp at night. The bug is made from a small lard pail. Punch a hole in one side for the candle.

1936 L. Duncan Over Wall vii. 111 I..sent the bright beam from my ‘bug’ from one end of the car to the other.

1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 20 Bug,..a crude lantern made by punching a hole in the side of a can and ramming a candle through it.

15. Originally U.S. colloquial. A concealed microphone or similar piece of electronic surveillance equipment used to listen to or record a person or conversation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > microphone

carbon transmitter1878

microphone1878

carbon microphone1879

pantelephone1881

phonoscope1890

mike1911

condenser microphone1921

magnetophone1922

radio microphone1922

ionophone1924

crystal microphone1925

ribbon microphone1925

radio mike1926

laryngophone1927

velocity microphone1931

ribbon mike1933

pressure microphone1934

bug1936

eight ball1937

ribbon1937

throat microphone1937

throat mike1937

rifle microphone1938

parabolic microphone1939

lip microphone1941

intercept1942

spike mike1950

spy-mike1955

spy-microphone1960

mic1961

rifle mike1961

gun microphone1962

spike microphone1962

shotgun microphone1968

Lavallière1972

wire1973

sneaky1974

multi-mikes1990

the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > electronic espionage > [noun] > device

bug1936

wiretap1950

spy-mike1955

spy-microphone1960

sneaky1974

1936 P. S. Van Sise Fighting Underworld xvi. 112 The dictaphones (later called ‘dicks’ or ‘bugs’ by the force) were ordered.

1946 W. L. Gresham Nightmare Alley xi. 162 That would have been a beautiful place to plant a bug if you wanted to work the waiting room gab angle.

1948 F. Brown Murder can be Fun (1951) xiv. 215 There's been a bug on your phone line for three days. Man on duty in the basement.

1961 A. Christie Pale Horse xvi. 164 Perhaps you have some idea that this office of mine might have a bug in it?

2012 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 16 June 3 Queensland criminals are hiring security experts to sweep their houses for bugs and other hidden police surveillance equipment.

Phrases

P1. to put (also leave, etc.) a bug in a person's ear (and variants): to put an idea or a suggestion to someone, especially one that is hard to resist or ignore; to make someone aware of something, especially something of a confidential nature.In quot. 1859 showing similar use of to go away with a bug in one's ear.

ΚΠ

1859 Nebraska Advertiser (Brownville) 6 Oct. 2/1 Many who attended the speaking expecting 'fun', went away with a 'bug in their ear!'—Mr. Pollock..'opened the eyes of the natives' by presenting facts, figures, dates, and documents.]

1875 Findlay (Ohio) Jeffersonian 5 Feb. 3/3 We still hear complaints about the lamp-lighter not attending to his business. For several nights past he has neglected to light some lamps on West Main Cross street. The Council should put a small bug in his ear.

1885 C. Baswitz Levy the Drummer (typescript, Libr. of Congr.) i. i. 3 Will, I have been wanting to put a bug in your ear, all morning... Listen Boys... There is a young Sheenie selling clothing..; I propose we put up a job on him.

1921 H. A. Franck Working North from Patagonia xx. 536 Leaving that bug in their ears, we finally ended our long and leisurely diplomatic conference.

1963 G. Ryga Hungry Hills 129 He don't know we're in moonshine, but he put a bug into the cop's ear.

1998 Billboard 26 Sept. 16/2 Making an album of movie tracks wasn't his idea; Columbia Records president Don Jenner put the bug in his ear.

2003 C. G. Appy Patriots 6 The assistant division commander did not like the way I was operating... So he put a bug in the ear of the division commander.

P2. to have (also get) a bug in one's ear: to be obsessed or strongly influenced by a particular idea, plan, etc., esp. one that is unrealistic or irrational.

ΚΠ

1876 World (N.Y.) 28 Sept. 2/5 A meeting of the depositors of the Bond Street Savings Bank was held..in the Bowery, last night...One speaker addressed the meeting in a feeble voice, amid cries of 'Shut up', 'You have got a bug in your ear', 'This is a packed meeting.' &c.

1901 J. Habermehl Life on Western Rivers 209 Thus I got a bug in my ear not to hire out unless under a special contract in the presence of witnesses.

1941 Boilermakers Jrnl. Apr. 112/1 So many welders doing a general run of maintenance work soon get to feel they are class A welders. They get a bug in their ear.

1993 J. Agee Strange Angels (1994) xvi. 217 Inez has a bug in her ear about something.

2008 M. J. Miller Outside looking In xv. 375 Ordinarily a good and balanced critic of television, he seems to have had a bug in his ear when it came to this show.

P3. U.S. slang. to have bugs (in one’s head or brain): to be mad or mentally unstable. Cf. bugs adj. 1.

ΚΠ

1903 ‘O. Henry’ in McClure's Mag. July 329/1 Poor Billy. He's got bugs. Sitting on ice, and calling his best friends pseudonyms.

1914 J. Hawthorne Subterranean Brotherhood xiii. 247 Whether the beetle was alive and got away, or whether the prisoner himself had ‘bugs’, as the slang is, at any rate the examiners reported no beetle.

1962 H. F. Searles in Jrnl. Amer. Psychoanalytic Assoc. 10 30 It was only later on in her therapy that she became able to realize that she, in a figurative sense, ‘was “bugs”’, or ‘had bugs in her head’, so to speak.

1996 C. Emery Dangerous Games iv. 55 The man has bugs in his brain! He can't even comb his hair.

P4. Originally and chiefly U.S. to have a bug up one's ass (also arse, etc.) (and variants). Also in similative contexts.

a. To be obsessed or strongly influenced by an idea, plan, etc., esp. one that is unrealistic or irrational; to have an obsession about. Cf. to have (also get) a bug in one's ear at Phrases 2.

ΚΠ

1949 A. I. Bezzerides Thieves' Market iii. 24 The old man died with a bug up his ass [sc. a dream of running his own business].

1951 M. Spillane One Lonely Night iii. 59 You think I was taken in by that vacation line? Hell. You have another bug up your behind. It has to do with those green cards.

1988 G. Matthews Gold Flake Hydrant xii. 170 She's really got a bug up her ass about this Washington thing, a brainwave that'll swamp her.

2011 Courier-Post (New Jersey) (Nexis) 1 Oct. 16/3 The irrepressible Adelaide keeps busting into the Harmons' home. 'Addie will always find a way in... She has a bug up her ass about this house. Always has'.

b. To be annoyed, angry, or in a bad mood. Also (chiefly with about, over, etc.): to have a persistent grievance with or dislike for someone or something.

ΚΠ

1949 V. Van Praag Day without End vii. 86 That lousy Wormsley..gets a bug up his ass every time he thinks he should make noises like an intelligence officer.

1955 B. Schulberg Waterfront ix. 118 The pier superintendent has a bug up his rump this morning.

1982 E. Leonard Cat Chaser xiv. 187 These people with little bugs up their ass, they come here to cause trouble.

1999 Toronto Star (Nexis) 8 Aug. DeShields has a bug up his butt, steaming..about all the positive press rookie Jerry Hairston has garnered while filling in at second.

2016 W. Wright Icons: Celebrity Satire 252 Prince Charles was less than pleased... ‘Me mum's had a bug up her arse about Camilla ever since I took a fancy to her.’

c. To be or become restless or nervous; to fidget.

ΚΠ

1950 Opus Pistorum (typescript, Univ. Calif. Los Angeles) II. ii. 48 Billie could talk about Jean all afternoon,..but I have a bug up my ass.

1960 G. Sire Deathmakers xiii. 164 It's going to be tough shit if just one of them gets a bug up his ass.

1990 E. Leonard Get Shorty (1998) xii. 109 Ray Bones is looking for you. He's got some kind of bug up his ass, can't sit still.

2015 A. Malkin Morgan xxii. 171 They're constantly moving around like they've got bugs up their asses.

Compounds

C1. attributive. Computing. With the sense ‘of or relating to errors or other causes of malfunction in a computer program’, as bug list, bug tracker, etc. Cf. sense 5b. See also Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1966 E. C. Van Horn Computer Design Asynchronously Reproducible Multiprocessing (Doctoral Diss., Mass. Inst. Technol.) iii. 63 Both nonfunctionality and noncompletion lurking bug effects do not occur.

1983 Computer-aided Engin. Jrnl. 1 9/3 The bug list grew and grew.

1995 Computerworld 27 Mar. 116 A vendor's receptiveness to bug reports and how much face-to-face contact it provides are top priorities for LAN managers.

2003 L. Ash Web Testing Compan. iv. 100 Once enough information has been gathered on the issue to understand it, searching the bug database is the next logical step.

2012 B. W. Fitzpatrick & B. Collins-Sussman Team Geek ii. 46 Hallway conversations about bugs should be recorded as updates in the bug tracker.

C2.

a. General attributive with reference to arthropods, esp. insects, as bug catcher, bug exterminator, bug infestation, bug remover, bug zapper, etc. Cf. branch I.

ΚΠ

1845 Racine (Wisconsin Territory) Advocate 12 Aug. Persons who have gardens, perhaps are not aware of the value of toads as bug catchers.

1859 Nonconformist 27 Apr. 358/2 Wholesale manufacturer of..Mice and Rat Killer, Bug Exterminator, Sand Tablets, [etc.]

1902 Defiance (Ohio) Democrat 31 July 5/1 We've got every kind of bug remover, from fly paper to paris green.

1914 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 June 1300/1 There was, as at Guy's and other London hospitals, an official bug catcher.

1925 Marion (Iowa) Daily Sentinel 22 Oct. 7/2 The..extension entomologist of Iowa State has recommended to farmers with heavy bug infestations to burn off the heavily matted bluegrass patches.

1960 Jennings (Louisiana) Daily News 31 May 5/6 I'd have welcomed the opportunity to just once go up to a bug exterminator and ask if he really itches for success.

1972 Westport (Connecticut) Fairpress 23 Aug. 8/2 A portable ultraviolet bug ‘zapper’ to control mosquitos near public facilities.

1987 Toronto Star (Nexis) 14 Mar. g3 The glue residue can be removed fairly simply with the liquid tar and bug remover sold in most auto stores.

1999 X. H. Truong in T. C. B. Chancellor et al. Rice Tungro Dis. Managem. 118 (caption) High bug infestation levels in the transplanting trials during dry (B) and wet (C) seasons.

2001 J. Baggott Girl Talk 44 We sat there in the blue glow of the bug zapper, frying bugs full tilt.

2004 Trailer Life Feb. 11 Thetford's Black Streak & Bug Remover was thoroughly tested on fiberglass, aluminum, gelcoat, etc.

2015 Green Parent Apr. 34/2 I made Explorer Bags for my children that included crayons.., bug catchers and magnifying glasses.

bug agaric n. rare the fly agaric toadstool, Amanita muscaria, which was formerly smeared on bedsteads to repel bedbugs.

ΚΠ

1781 B. Wilmer Observ. Poisonous Veg. 54 (heading) Bug agaric.

2005 T. Dale Revitalize your Hormones vii. 219/2 Agaricus Muscarius (toadstool—bug agaric).

bugbane n. any of various toxic plants of the genera Cimifuga and Actaea (family Ranunculaceae), formerly used to repel bedbugs; esp. A. cimifuga (or C. foetida) of Siberia and East Asia; cf. baneberry n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants yielding poison > plants yielding insecticide or used to repel insects > [noun]

fly-bane1597

bugbane1723

timbo1725

fly-agaric1788

rattleweed1793

cube1924

1723 R. Ball Astrol. Improv'd (ed. 2) i. 59 He [sc. Mercury] rules Carrots, Carroways.., Medow Treyfoyl or Bugbane.

1880 Libr. Universal Knowl. III. 862 Cimicifuga, or bugbane, an herb of the order ranunculaceæ.

2001 Org. Gardening Apr. 54/3 Elegant woodland wildflowers, bugbanes thrive in partial shade to full sun, producing 3- to 7-foot spikes of bottlebrush-like blooms.

bug bite n. a bite from an insect.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > [noun] > wound > stings or bites

stingc900

stinging1398

biting1527

flea-bite1570

flea-biting1598

bite1736

bug bite1739

snip1767

stangc1800

myiasis1839

snake-bite1839

tooth-wound1899

1739 J. Douglas Diss. Venereal Dis. Pt. III vi. 93 Whenever any person shews you a..flea or bug bite above his eye brow or any where else..insist upon't they are poxed.

1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. xi. 27/1 Poisoned by bad cookery, blistered with bugbites.

1967 Changing Times July 47 (heading) What to do about bug bites.

2003 Vibe Dec. 126/2 Tea tree oil is great for blemishes, bug bites, everything.

bug-crazy adj. chiefly U.S. (a) having a passion for (or obsession with) bugs (sense 1) or (occasionally) germs; (b) crazy, insane (cf. sense 7).

ΚΠ

1886 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 9 Oct. 8 (caption) She was bug crazy. The mysterious female from New Orleans whose captive Brazilian beetle astonished and disgusted the hotel boarders.

1897 Jrnl. Med. & Sci. Nov. 411/1 It is not surprising that the laity have, as an old doctor puts it, gone ‘bug crazy’ and that they have an increasingly morbid interest in disease germs.

1901 in L. C. Pickett Jinny 79 One er deze yer Cap'ns er Marines got bug-crazy..en tried ter split Marse John Brown wide open wid his saber.

1988 Weekly World News 27 Dec. 7/5 The bug-crazy natives have devised special nets to capture the delectable insect invaders.

2008 Geelong (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 21 Mar. (TV section) 6 The..scientist who successfully tests a top-secret invisibility serum on himself... He goes bug-crazy and starts..doing things to women that an invisible nutcase would.

bug destroyer n. a person, device, or substance that kills insects or other bugs (sense 1); an insecticide; cf. bug killer n.

ΚΠ

1786 H. Lemoine Kentish Curate IV. xvii. 215 The Doctor proved a very superficial examiner, and a low fellow, who formerly had been a bug destroyer in ordinary to a garrison.

1806 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1807) 10 221 Bug Destroyer to His Majesty, and Flea Catcher in general.

1888 Amer. Garden May 180/1 (advt.) We tested it on our trial grounds with good results, and we believe it to be the best bug destroyer.

1932 Pop. Mech. Aug. 336/2 An effective and non-inflammable insect and bug destroyer.

2014 Gulf Weekly (Nexis) 24 Sept. My villa has been invaded by a swarm of tiny ants... How do I get rid of them? I'm not happy with calling in the bug destroyers as I have children and animals in the home.

bug dope n. colloquial (originally and chiefly North American) insecticide or insect repellent; cf. bug juice n. 2.

ΚΠ

1904 Mansfield (Ohio) News 19 Mar. (cartoon caption) Mary went to a wise old guy who had the proper bug dope to make radium.

1907 Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gaz. 1 Mar. 4/2 The [legal] action.., brought to recover for bug dope which is alleged to have failed in its errand.

1988 E. Hoagland in R. Bangs & C. Kallen Paths less Travelled 22 The..proprietor sat..in a cloud of flies most of the day, spraying bug dope on the meats that he had on display.

2012 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 18 Aug. a10 Blackflies..biting you..in a sun-up until sundown assault that you will try, fruitlessly, to fend off with bug dope.

bug fix n. Computing a change to a computer program designed to correct errors and eliminate causes of malfunction.

ΚΠ

1969 Proc. 24th National Conf. ACM 463/2 A new version of the system that contains the newly incorporated components as well as all the bug fixes provided by the development groups.

1982 Data Communications (Nexis) Feb. 107 A program can be released as version 1.1, and minor changes (for example, for bug-fixes) incorporated as versions 1.2 and 1.3.

2005 Wall St. Jrnl. 17 Jan. (Central ed.) r3/1 Nearly two-thirds of companies expect to negotiate lower prices for their annual software maintenance contracts—which entitle them to updates, bug fixes and technical support.

bug fixing n. Computing the action or process of changing a computer program in order to correct errors and eliminate causes of malfunction.

ΚΠ

1969 Proc. AFIPS Spring Joint Computer Conf. 34 416/1 Over a period of time the net bug fixing progress was zero.

1985 PC Week (Nexis) 1 Oct. 47 Lotus announced that it was delaying its announced shipment date for a month in order to do further bug-fixing.

2015 Computing (Nexis) 4 Aug. Commercial development is driven by competition and compliance to industry standards, which puts a higher priority on stability, security and bug fixing.

† bug-fly n. Obsolete rare a flying insect (unidentified).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Heteroptera > member of

bardan1572

bug-fly1712

bug1771

1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 352 10 and 11 are Bug-flies observed in the Woods about Hampsted Heath.

bug-hunt v. colloquial intransitive (a) to search for and remove or kill insects or other bugs (now rare); (b) to search for or collect insects or other bugs (sense 1), esp. as entomological specimens.

ΚΠ

1801 Farther Excursions of Observant Pedestrian IV. 234 She assured me she was terrible busy bug-hunting.

1901 A. B. Wylde Mod. Abyssinia xiv. 324 At about midnight we both turned out and sat over a fire in the courtyard and took off our things and bug-hunted; we managed to rid ourselves of them.

1901 C. W. Stubbs In Minister Garden iii. 29 I hear there are a good many rare fen plants still to be found there,..and you can grub about and bug-hunt to your heart's content.

1936 D. Malone Last Landfall iii. viii. 261 Your usual morning employment was bug-hunting. This was carried out incessantly, both by day and night.

1957 Times 30 Oct. 11/4 Should we, however zealously we may have bug hunted, do as well as that Thames lighterman who answered a six part question on the Glanville fritillary butterfly?

2010 C. Alt Virginia Woolf & Study of Nature i. 31 Virginia bug-hunted with her siblings, netting butterflies, sugaring for moths, and setting specimens for display.

bug hunt n. colloquial a search for insects or other bugs (sense 1).

ΚΠ

1877 People (Indianapolis) 3 Mar. 1/6 Ernest Morris started on another bug hunt.

1948 Wilson Bull. 60 113 When the adult [sc. a bird] caught an insect, the young stopped its ineffectual bug hunt and begged.

2012 S. Martineau & L. Noyes Bugs in Garden 5 Bug hunt... See what creepy-crawlies you can find living in your garden or in the park.

bug hunting n. colloquial the action or practice of searching for or collecting insects or other bugs (sense 1), esp. as entomological specimens.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > zoology > study of specific types of animal > [noun] > insects

entomology1766

insectology1766

bugology1843

bug hunting1855

1855 C. Kingsley Glaucus 7 The naturalist was looked on as a harmless enthusiast, who went ‘bug-hunting’, simply because he had not spirit to follow a fox.

1905 Westm. Gaz. 19 May 4/2 The pursuit that in schoolboy days of irreverence we used to call ‘bug-hunting’.

2015 Ledbury Reporter (Nexis) 15 Oct. A dedicated space..has been filled with equipment needed for the activities, including bug hunting, nature trails and pond dipping kits.

bug-infested adj. infested with insects (or other bugs), esp. bedbugs.

ΚΠ

1832 A. Slade Records of Travels in Turkey, Greece, & Black Sea I. iii. 89 It was infinitely preferable to going to one of the bug-infested inns.

1908 Indian Med. Gaz. 43 173/1 There are old wooden beds used in the sleeping wards of this jail which are very bug infested.

2005 L. Leblanc Pretty in Punk App. 237 Squats range from houses creatively restored by committed squatters to garbage-strewn, bug-infested, urine-smelling disposable housing.

bug killer n. a person, device, or substance that kills insects or other bugs (sense 1); an insecticide; cf. bug destroyer n.

ΚΠ

1768 North Briton 20 Aug. 376 Most courtiers, from the first M——r of St—e down to his m—y's Rat-catcher or Bug-killer, are at present seized with a certain disease called Ochlophobia.

1791 G. Huddesford Salmagundi 111 Shrimp-scalders and bug-killers.

1860 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 9 June 442/1 The number of casualties which have taken place referrible to the administration of vermin powders, bug-killers, rat-powders, etc.

1950 Pop. Mech. Mar. 95/1 DDT and other high-powered bug killers..cost one fourth as much as the older types to spray.

2013 C. Belden Shriver 2015 x. 166 As soon as he stepped onto the grass, away from the safety of the bug killer, the mosquitoes descended upon him.

bug light n. North American any of various dim or makeshift lights; spec. (a) Nautical a light positioned at sea or on land, or displayed by a vessel, which serves as a beacon, warning, alert, or guide for ships; (b) a lantern or torch; = sense 14 (now rare); (c) an electric light bulb giving a yellow glow, used in outdoor lighting, as being less attractive to flying insects than a standard bulb.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > [noun] > lamp > lantern > small

bowet1440

bug light1835

bug1924

1835 O. Macy Hist. Nantucket vii. 123 The next [lighthouse] was a wooden lantern, with glass windows, which was hoisted between two spars... This was a dim light, hence it received the name of ‘bug light’.

1847 Sailor's Mag. & Naval Jrnl. 19 340/2 Daniel S. Hallet has placed a Bug Light on the bank at Hyannis harbor.

1873 Our Young Folks Sept. 542 The bug-lights were rigged out... A basket..made of hoop-iron, is filled with..inflammable material, lighted and suspended over the side.

1922 Boys' Life Sept. 1/2 I've bought a brand new bug-light just for hiking out at night.

1935 Motor Boating Jan. 53/2 A southwesterly course..will bring us abreast of Bens Point and thence WSW..to the red bug light of Long Beach Point.

1937 M. H. Jones Swords into Ploughshares iii. 29 Operating..with the lights so feeble that the nurses have to hold bug lights..so that I can see.

1968 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 17 Dec. 20/4 My husband has a tendency to underplay Christmas. He puts a yellow bug light in the porch socket and calls it decorating.

2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 10 June b5/5 Using yellow bug lights in electrical outdoor lights helps not because they repel, but because they don't attract mosquitoes like regular incandescent lights.

bug proof adj. (a) immune to attack or infestation by bedbugs or other insect pests; impervious to such creatures; (b) resistant to or protected against electronic surveillance (cf. sense 15).

ΚΠ

1829 Morning Post 12 Mar. 4/5 The furniture consists of four-post and metal bug-proof bedsteads and furnitures.

1922 Prairie Farmer 11 Mar. 16/2 There is no bug-proof variety of corn that has yet been found.

1964 Washington Post 15 Sept. a15/1 Horst Schwirkmann..had been assigned to uncover hidden microphones in West Germany's Moscow embassy and install a bug-proof system for the Embassy's use.

2009 D. Strickman et al. Prevention Bug Bites, Stings, & Dis. v. 100 Many bugs survive inside the vacuum cleaner..making it necessary to empty the canister or place the bag into a bug-proof plastic bag before disposal.

2016 N. Griffin Voice from Field xxxiii. 240 It's a bunker. An ultra-safe room. Built to be bug proof.

bug repellent n. something, esp. a substance, which repels or keeps away insects or other bugs (sense 1).

ΚΠ

1891 Daily Californian 8 Apr. The first two [plants] named seem to be the most general bug repellents.

1957 N.Y. Times Mag. 19 May ii. 37/5 A bottle of bug repellent is useful against black flies in the early part of the season.

2006 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 July f8/2 The..researcher says scientists..need more information on the safe and effective use of sunscreen and bug repellent together.

bug-ridden adj. (a) plagued by or infested with bedbugs or other insect pests; (b) originally U.S. (of a machine, computer program, etc.) beset with defects or faults (cf. sense 5).

ΚΠ

1848 Athenæum 29 Jan. 108/3 We passed a flea and bug ridden night.

1903 Ukiah (Calif.) Disp. Democrat 6 Mar. 5/5 We also hoped that by this time something would be done about the bug ridden orchards.

1953 A. Hosain Phoenix Fled (1988) 164 Nights of sleeping anywhere we could lie down, in rest houses, in huts, on floors, on bug-ridden cots.

1959 Stars & Stripes (European ed.) 1 July 7/4 The Atlas [intercontinental ballistic missile] currently is bug-ridden.

1994 Computer Weekly 20 Jan. 20/4 I know one small company that could not produce invoices for more than a week because of a bug-ridden printer driver.

2002 Wired Aug. 27/2 The so-called embedded systems crammed into jets, cars, and ‘smart’ appliances increasingly rely on the same bug-ridden code that corrupts PowerPoint slides.

2003 New Yorker 16 June 89/2 Georgette's father had taken them on a vacation to a bug-ridden permanent camp in the Allegheny National Forest.

bug spray n. insecticide or bug repellent applied as a spray.

ΚΠ

1906 Sunday Post (Boston) 8 Apr. 2/3 I'd like to know what's the use of bug-spray or Bordeaux mixture on birds like them.

1970 Boys' Life Aug. 29/3 We were invaded by flights of hungry gnats that weren't even bothered by our bug spray.

2005 New Yorker 12 Dec. 44/1 Sturdy shoes, clean socks, cellular phone, camcorder, and bug spray.

bugwort n. U.S. either of two toxic American plants of the family Ranunculaceae, black bugbane ( Actaea racemosa) and Indian poke ( Veratrum viride).

ΚΠ

1700 W. Salmon Aristotle's Compl. & Experienc'd Midwife ii. i. 142 Pottages good to increase the Seed, are such as are made of Beans, Pease, and Lupines..: Also Onions stewed.., fresh Bugwort roots.

1831 G. Don Gen. Syst. Gardening & Bot. I. 64/1 Fœtid Bugwort. Fl. June, July.

2003 S. J. Segal & L. Mastroianni Hormone Use Menopause & Male Andropause 54 Black cohosh is known by a variety of other names including black snakeroot, rattle weed, bugwort, and bugbane.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

bugadj.

Brit.

/bʌɡ/, U.S.

/bəɡ/

Forms: 1500s–1600s bugge, 1600s– bug, 1800s boog.

Origin: Probably formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: bug n.¹

Etymology: Probably < bug n.¹ (see bug n.¹ 2). Compare earlier buggish adj. 1. Perhaps compare also earlier big adj., and also bog adj., budge adj.

In later use English regional (chiefly Yorkshire and midlands).

Pompous, haughty; proud, conceited. Also: fine, grand.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pride > pomposity > [adjective]

pompousc1375

buggish1536

biga1568

bug1567

braving1600

large1608

farceda1616

budge1637

bulky1672

fastuose1674

portentous1805

highfalutin1839

heavy1849

portentious1859

ventose1867

falutin1921

pound-noteish1936

pomposo1960

stuffed-shirted1977

1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Aviij^v Bugge verses which cum to the stage With waight of wordes alone.

1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. L5^v Then gins she [sc. the moon] swell, and waxen bug with horn.

1682 H. More Annot. Lux Orientalis 55 in Two Choice & Useful Treat. A Bug and sturdy Mendicant, that pretends to be some person of Quality.

1799 S. Purkis Let. 16 Feb. in Notes & Queries (1860) 7 Apr. 261/2 ‘A poor bug fool,’ that is, a conceited blockhead.

1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words at Boog Oh! it's too boog for me!

1889 J. Nicholson Folk Speech E. Yorks. iii. 17 As bug (vain, proud, elated) as a lad wiv a leather knife.

1912 J. Malham-Dembleby Orig. Tales & Ballads Yorks. Dial. 110 To gan wiv Robin I was bug.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

bugv.¹

Brit.

/bʌɡ/, U.S.

/bəɡ/

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: bug n.²

Etymology: < bug n.²Sense 1 probably alludes metaphorically to infestation by insects. In to bug out at Phrasal verbs perhaps after bugs adj. Compare bug v.³, which may show extended use of this word. Compare also bug v.²

1. transitive. slang. To damage or ruin; to spoil. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > damage > damage or injure [verb (transitive)]

mareOE

shendOE

hinderc1000

amarOE

awemc1275

noyc1300

touchc1300

bleche1340

blemisha1375

spill1377

misdoa1387

grieve1390

damagea1400

despoil?a1400

matea1400

snapea1400

mankc1400

overthrowa1425

tamec1430

undermine1430

blunder1440

depaira1460

adommage?1473

endamage1477

prejudicec1487

fulyie1488

martyra1500

dyscrase?1504

corrupt1526

mangle1534

danger1538

destroy1542

spoil1563

ruinate1564

ruin1567

wrake1570

injury1579

bane1587

massacre1589

ravish1594

wrong1595

rifle1604

tainta1616

mutilea1618

to do violence toa1625

flaw1665

stun1676

quail1682

maul1694

moil1698

damnify1712

margullie1721

maul1782

buga1790

mux1806

queer1818

batter1840

puckeroo1840

rim-rack1841

pretty1868

garbage1899

savage1899

to do in1905

strafe1915

mash1924

blow1943

nuke1967

mung1969

a1790 H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash Langs. (1795) Bug, to spoil.

1920 Automobile Dealer & Repairer Sept. 45/2 I can use that there, now—that shaft that—that I bugged, instead of a new forgin'.

1967 J. Rechy Numbers (1968) ix. 154 The man bugs the scene again.

a. transitive. Originally and chiefly U.S. To remove insect pests from (something) (chiefly a tree or plant, esp. a potato plant) by hand or using a pesticide. Also occasionally intransitive. Cf. debug v. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin from [verb (transitive)] > remove insects from

bug1823

disinsectize1959

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin [verb (intransitive)] > exterminate insects

bug1869

1823 Rambler's Mag. 1 Mar. 132 To keep up the reputation of the house,..see the bedsteads bugg'd clean every summer and shift your sheets once every six weeks.

1868 Illustr. Ann. Reg. Rural Affairs 208 Hand-picking or brushing and shaking the insects into a pan or basin of water held under the vines was the only measure I could confidently recommend, and this ‘bugging the potatoes’..is much resorted to upon a small scale in the gardens.

1869 Champaign Co. (Illinois) Gaz. 26 May 2/1 If every tree in the township was ‘bugged’ daily..the destruction of this little pest would be certain.

1910 Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau Entomol. No. 82. 88 Neighbors ‘bugged’ faithfully, but the bugs ‘multiplied and replenished’.

1961 H. J. Boyle Mostly in Clover xviii. 126 Some of us..would have gone back to school gladly in order to escape the monotonous drudgery of hoeing turnips or bugging potatoes.

2011 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. (Nexis) 17 Sept. We bugged potatoes row by row.

b. intransitive. To search for or collect insects or other bugs (bug n.² 1). rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > hunt specific animal [verb (intransitive)] > hunt bugs, etc.

worm1575

slug1887

bug1889

1889 Cent. Dict. Bug.., to hunt for bugs.

1991 S. Hubbell in New Yorker 7 Oct. 105/1 A couple of cloth sacks containing his haul from yesterday, when he went bugging alone, lie on the trays.

3. transitive. U.S. slang. To fit with a burglar alarm. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1927 Dial. Notes 5 x. 440 Bug,..to protect a safe with electric alarm devices.

a1930 C. Panzram in T. E. Gaddis & J. O. Long Killer (1970) xviii. 158 To pull off a hot prowl is to turn off a trick in a private or a joint that is to be kipped or bugged; that is to rob a place where people are sleeping or that is wired.

1971 Rudder Feb. 37/3 Many large marinas..report that few if any skippers bug their boats against burglars.

4. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To annoy, irritate; to bother, pester.Originally chiefly in jazz slang.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > irritate [verb (transitive)]

gremec893

grillc897

teenOE

mispay?c1225

agrillec1275

oftenec1275

tarya1300

tarc1300

atenec1320

enchafec1374

to-tarc1384

stingc1386

chafe?a1400

pokec1400

irec1420

ertc1440

rehete1447

nettlec1450

bog1546

tickle1548

touch1581

urge1593

aggravate1598

irritate1598

dishumour1600

to wind up1602

to pick at ——1603

outhumour1607

vex1625

bloody1633

efferate1653

rankle1659

spleen1689

splenetize1700

rile1724

roil1742

to put out1796

to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823

roughen1837

acerbate1845

to stroke against the hair, the wrong way (of the hair)1846

nag1849

to rub (a person, etc.) up the wrong way1859

frump1862

rattle1865

to set up any one's bristles1873

urticate1873

needle1874

draw1876

to rough up1877

to stick pins into1879

to get on ——1880

to make (someone) tiredc1883

razoo1890

to get under a person's skin1896

to get a person's goat1905

to be on at1907

to get a person's nanny1909

cag1919

to get a person's nanny-goat1928

cagmag1932

peeve1934

tick-off1934

to get on a person's tits1945

to piss off1946

bug1947

to get up a person's nose1951

tee1955

bum1970

tick1975

1947 J. Kerouac Let. 13 Sept. in Sel. Lett. 1940–56 (1995) 126 You must start reading Balzac, incidentally, but don't let me rush you and bug you.

1949 Music Library Assoc. Notes Dec. 40/2 Bug, popularized by swing musicians and now much used by be-boppers: to be annoying.

1959 Times 31 Oct. 7/3 The heroine..inquires picturesquely of the hero ‘What's bugging you?’ and he replies, succinctly, ‘Life.’

1967 ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp xx. 282 She was bugging me to embrace the Holy Ghost and the Fire.

1991 Locus Sept. 4/1 I want to write more humorous science fiction. People keep bugging me for another ‘Flinx’ book.

2007 Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa) 14 Aug. 7/3 Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt, and the people who know you the best are also the people who bug you the most.

5. Originally U.S. colloquial.

(a) transitive. To listen to or record (a person or conversation) using a concealed microphone or similar means of electronic surveillance.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > hear [verb (transitive)] > listen to > eavesdrop > by microphone

bug1955

spike1974

1955 Oxnard (Calif.) Press-Courier 3 May 2/5 Outlawing in court any evidence obtained through ‘bugging’ a conversation by use of a concealed microphone.

1973 Harper's Mag. Oct. 79/1 A ‘sterile’ telephone in Washington (permitting them to operate without being bugged or observed by rival spies from other government agencies).

1993 Toronto Star 9 July a25/4 A rumor was going around that the U.S. media were bugging the Canadian reporters' cell-phone conversations.

2000 Saga Mag. Feb. 86/2 He wanted to confer with members of his entourage, because he suspected he was being bugged.

(b) transitive. To conceal a microphone or similar piece of electronic surveillance equipment in (a location, device, etc.); to listen to conversations taking place on (a device) using electronic surveillance.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > electronic espionage > install or use device [verb (transitive)]

wire1890

wiretap1918

bug1958

Watergate1973

1958 J. D. MacDonald Executioners v. 86 We bugged both suites and that gave us some leads.

1965 C. Himes Cotton comes to Harlem xii. 117 She stood defiantly. ‘I'm not talking in this hole. You've got it bugged.’

1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 270 The FBI pulled the rug out from under Governor Sawyer when information it had obtained by bugging the offices of certain Las Vegas casinos became public record in a tax trial.

1980 Washington Post (Nexis) 18 June a6 The conspiracy began in February 1979 (which is when Davidson has said the FBI started bugging his phone).

2015 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 8 May 16 The proposed new measures would give the intelligence services the right to gather virtually unlimited data, checking emails and bugging rooms, cars or objects.

b. intransitive. To use a concealed microphone or similar means of electronic surveillance to listen to or record a person or conversation.

ΚΠ

1961 Calif. Law Rev. 49 482 Eavesdropping and ‘bugging’ by electronic detecting and amplifying devices would seem to represent the ultimate invasion of privacy.

1969 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 386 184/2 The agency has bugged and wiretapped with a zeal exceeding the spirit, if not the letter of our laws.

1974 P. R. Clancy Just Country Lawyer i. 10 Thou shalt not bug without a court order.

1999 Observer (Nexis) 18 July 33 All Customs investigators needed to do was get written permission to bug in advance from their superiors and the managers of the hotels.

Phrasal verbs

to bug out slang (originally and chiefly U.S.).

a. intransitive. To think or behave in an irrational, uncontrolled, strange, or erratic way; to panic or become hysterical. Also without out.In quot. 1939 (transitive) to bug one's way out (of something): to act as if insane in order to avoid something unpleasant or inconvenient.

ΚΠ

1939 R. Chandler in Dime Detective Mag. Aug. 60/2 He could bug his way outa raps... Totes a gun and acts simple.

1961 F. J. Rigney & L. D. Smith Real Bohemia p. xiii Bug out.., to become psychotic.

1987 C. Hilberry Luke Karamazov xi. 120 I started bugging out. I could feel myself going. You know, I'm losing grip on it.

1992 T. Williams Crackhouse xi. 77 He's on the floor in my closet, and I have no idea what he's looking for and he doesn't either... This is what we call ‘the bug-out’—we say ‘he's bugging’.

2013 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 19 June 5 I knew they [sc. the police] had my phone and I was bugging out... I had a bad feeling.

b. transitive. To disturb or unsettle (someone). Also: to annoy, bother, or irritate (cf. sense 4).

ΚΠ

1970 J. Bouton Ball Four v. 156 Curt said I had bugged out at least half the coaching staff.

1986 New Musical Express 29 Mar. 19/1 You're looking at me. You're bugging me out, man.

1993 R. Shell iCED 109 I just couldn't find my shit and it was bugging me out.

2002 Amer. Theatre (Electronic ed.) Dec. 17 In other words, close collaborations don't bug her out.

2011 G. L. Heyward Corruption Officer (2015) 146 What's bugging me out is why neither of them is stepping up.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

bugv.²

Brit.

/bʌɡ/, U.S.

/bəɡ/

Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps formed within English, by conversion. Or perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: bug n.¹; bug n.²; bulge v.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps (i) < bug n.¹, or perhaps (ii) < bug n.² (compare bug-eyed adj.), or perhaps (iii) a variant or alteration of bulge v. (compare bulge v. II.). Perhaps compare earlier bag v.¹, boggle v.

U.S. colloquial.

1. transitive. To cause (the eyes) to open wide or bulge outwards, esp. in astonishment or fear. Chiefly with out. Now somewhat rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [verb (transitive)] > by size, shape, etc.

sparkle1601

stain1831

wrinkle1841

bug1865

scrouge1909

scrooch1929

1865 J. S. Jackman Diary Confederate Soldier 14 Feb. (1990) viii. 160 He had hardly gotten through with his tale, when a negro came riding up full speed, his white eyes ‘bugged’ out.

1875 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 15 Aug. 3/6 What though the rain came down in torrents, that would have bugged out old flat boatman Noah's eyes with astonishment?

1877 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly 40 446 His dead-lights were bugged out like tompions; and his mouth stood..wide open.

1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. 225 They was..buggin' their eyes at him.

1986 M. Howard Expensive Habits 199 Mistah Film Macher, buggin' his eyes out like old Orson Welles.

1993 D. Coyle Hardball iv. iii. 166 The big kid bugged out his eyes and propped his elbow on his friend's skinny shoulder.

2. intransitive. Of the eyes: to open wide or bulge outwards, esp. in astonishment or fear. Chiefly with out.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [verb (intransitive)] > by size, shape, etc.

starta1393

sparkle1594

startle1600

settle1615

pop1680

fever1820

largen1844

bug1868

1868 Overland Monthly Sept. 260/2 Your eyes bug out as though you seen a ghost.

1883 ‘M. Twain’ Life on Mississippi xxxvi. 391 Would n't their eyes bug out, to see 'em handled like that?

1902 O. Wister Virginian xxxii. 408 Can't you tell a man what's making your eyes bug out so?

1989 Weekly World News 21 Nov. 40/5 The much bigger pit bull..went scurrying away, its eyes bugging in terror and its tail tucked between its legs.

2010 Billboard 3 Apr. 22/3 To the hardcore fans, I hope their eyes bug out when they hear these.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

bugv.³

Brit.

/bʌɡ/, U.S.

/bəɡ/

Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: bug v.¹

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps an extended use of bug v.¹ (compare to bug out at bug v.¹ Phrasal verbs), perhaps with allusion to the erratic behaviour of people fleeing in panic (compare also bug n.² 7, bugs adj.). Compare bug-out n.This word appears originally to have arisen among U.S. military forces during the Korean War (1950–3). In later use in to bug off in sense 2 (especially in British sources) perhaps reinforced by association with to bugger off at bugger v. Phrasal verbs 1.

colloquial (chiefly North American) (originally U.S. Military slang).

1. intransitive. Frequently with out.

a. To run away, flee; to retreat hurriedly.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily

fleec825

runOE

swervea1225

biwevec1275

skip1338

streekc1380

warpa1400

yerna1400

smoltc1400

stepc1460

to flee (one's) touch?1515

skirr1548

rubc1550

to make awaya1566

lope1575

scuddle1577

scoura1592

to take the start1600

to walk off1604

to break awaya1616

to make off1652

to fly off1667

scuttle1681

whew1684

scamper1687

whistle off1689

brush1699

to buy a brush1699

to take (its, etc.) wing1704

decamp1751

to take (a) French leave1751

morris1765

to rush off1794

to hop the twig1797

to run along1803

scoot1805

to take off1815

speela1818

to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

absquatulize1829

mosey1829

absquatulate1830

put1834

streak1834

vamoose1834

to put out1835

cut1836

stump it1841

scratch1843

scarper1846

to vamoose the ranch1847

hook1851

shoo1851

slide1859

to cut and run1861

get1861

skedaddle1862

bolt1864

cheese it1866

to do a bunkc1870

to wake snakes1872

bunk1877

nit1882

to pull one's freight1884

fooster1892

to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892

smoke1893

mooch1899

to fly the coop1901

skyhoot1901

shemozzle1902

to light a shuck1905

to beat it1906

pooter1907

to take a run-out powder1909

blow1912

to buzz off1914

to hop it1914

skate1915

beetle1919

scram1928

amscray1931

boogie1940

skidoo1949

bug1950

do a flit1952

to do a scarper1958

to hit, split or take the breeze1959

to do a runner1980

to be (also get, go) ghost1986

society > travel > aspects of travel > departure, leaving, or going away > depart, leave, or go away [verb (intransitive)] > hastily or suddenly

fleec825

warpa1400

wringc1400

bolt1575

decamp1751

mog1770

to hop the twig1797

to take (its, etc.) wing1806

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

vamoose1834

fade1848

skedaddle1862

to beat it1906

blow1912

to hop it1914

beetle1919

bug1950

jet1951

1950 Life 18 Dec. 28/1 When we bug out of here I don't want to have to run in nothing but pajamas.

1968 N. Cruz & J. Buckingham Run Baby Run viii. 148 Let's run. Let's take this money and bug out of here.

1971 J. N. Rowe Five Years to Freedom ix. 409 Grab your stuff and bug!

1978 J. Wambaugh Black Marble xiv. 324 A guy with lots of debts bugs out.

1988 S. Paretsky Toxic Shock (1990) xx. 152 I got a threatening phone call tonight telling me to bug out of South Chicago.

2015 K. Cole Dead of Winter xiii. 76 ‘There are spies everywhere.’ He exhaled a long breath. ‘Or, there were. They bugged out, running north.’

b. To lose one's nerve and decide not to do something; to back out.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > fear > nervousness or uneasiness > be nervous or uneasy [verb (intransitive)] > lose one's nerve

to lose one's nerve1912

bug1952

to lose one's bottle1958

bottle1977

to bottle it1988

the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from action [verb (intransitive)] > avoid > turn aside from a course of action > back out

resile1529

to back out1807

duff1883

duck1896

punk1920

squib1938

bug1952

weasel1956

to wuss out1976

1952 P. Frank Hold back Night vii. 113 It is a terrible thing for a captain to discover that one of his lieutenants has bugged out, although Ekland..had known that Sellers was yellow.

1960 J. A. Williams Angry Ones i. 12 I wasn't alone, but I bugged, and that was something I couldn't tell the folks; there aren't any cowards in our family.

1969 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 21 Oct. 1/7 He also said that Canada is not ‘bugging out’ of NATO.

1977 Time 31 Jan. 11/2 With pen poised over paper, the actress bugged out. ‘No, I just can't,’ she confessed.

2005 N.Y. Mag. 16 May 37/3 She got engaged to a blond rower. But the relationship fractured..and she bugged out on business school.

2. intransitive. With off.

a. To go away, leave; to flee.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)]

wendeOE

i-wite971

ashakec975

shakeOE

to go awayOE

witea1000

afareOE

agoOE

atwendOE

awayOE

to wend awayOE

awendOE

gangOE

rimeOE

flitc1175

to fare forthc1200

depart?c1225

part?c1225

partc1230

to-partc1275

biwitec1300

atwitea1325

withdrawa1325

to draw awayc1330

passc1330

to turn one's (also the) backc1330

lenda1350

begonec1370

remuea1375

voidc1374

removec1380

to long awaya1382

twinc1386

to pass one's wayc1390

trussc1390

waive1390

to pass out ofa1398

avoida1400

to pass awaya1400

to turn awaya1400

slakec1400

wagc1400

returnc1405

to be gonea1425

muck1429

packc1450

recede1450

roomc1450

to show (a person) the feetc1450

to come offc1475

to take one's licence1475

issue1484

devoidc1485

rebatea1500

walka1500

to go adieua1522

pikea1529

to go one's ways1530

retire?1543

avaunt1549

to make out1558

trudge1562

vade?1570

fly1581

leave1593

wag1594

to get off1595

to go off1600

to put off1600

shog1600

troop1600

to forsake patch1602

exit1607

hence1614

to give offa1616

to take off1657

to move off1692

to cut (also slip) the painter1699

sheera1704

to go about one's business1749

mizzle1772

to move out1792

transit1797–1803

stump it1803

to run away1809

quit1811

to clear off1816

to clear out1816

nash1819

fuff1822

to make (take) tracks (for)1824

mosey1829

slope1830

to tail out1830

to walk one's chalks1835

to take away1838

shove1844

trot1847

fade1848

evacuate1849

shag1851

to get up and get1854

to pull out1855

to cut (the) cable(s)1859

to light out1859

to pick up1872

to sling one's Daniel or hook1873

to sling (also take) one's hook1874

smoke1893

screw1896

shoot1897

voetsak1897

to tootle off1902

to ship out1908

to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909

to push off1918

to bugger off1922

biff1923

to fuck off1929

to hit, split or take the breeze1931

to jack off1931

to piss offa1935

to do a mick1937

to take a walk1937

to head off1941

to take a hike1944

moulder1945

to chuff off1947

to get lost1947

to shoot through1947

skidoo1949

to sod off1950

peel1951

bug1952

split1954

poop1961

mugger1962

frig1965

1952 B. Mauldin Bill Mauldin in Korea iv. 94 Five North Koreans came right up to the wire... They bugged off down that gulley and we lost them.

1967 H. S. Thompson Hell's Angels ix. 107 Here were all these weekend mountaineers, solid nine-to-five types with a yen to cut loose, bugging off for distant campsites.

1979 P. Anthony Source of Magic i. 3 Bugging off to the party to have a good time while I suffer home alone, chewing on the walls.

1983 J. Wilcox Mod. Baptists (1984) xxxiii. 227 I'm telling you to bug off. I'm tired of your advice, hear?

2011 J. Rush Due Diligence viii. 39 It's full of mistakes. Sammy, I want them fixing this stuff. I don't want you guys bugging off.

b. In imperative. Expressing dismissal, hostility, or desire to be rid of the person addressed; ‘go away’, ‘get lost’.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)]

scud1602

go scrape!1611

to push off (also along)1740

to go it1797

to walk one's chalks1835

morris1838

scat1838

go 'long1859

to take a walk1881

shoot1897

skidoo1905

to beat it1906

to go to the dickens1910

to jump (or go (and) jump) in the lake1912

scram1928

to piss offa1935

to bugger off1937

to fuck off1940

go and have a roll1941

eff1945

to feck off?1945

to get lost1947

to sod off1950

bug1956

to hit, split or take the breeze1959

naff1959

frig1965

muck1974

to rack off1975

1956 C. Fitzgibbon tr. K. Opitz General 107 Nice crowd this, I thought, stealing the shirts off their countrymen's backs... At Hamburg Central they were there again. They were more sympathetic, though. ‘Bug off out of it’, they said in their friendly fashion.

1960 H. Gold in Playboy Sept. 121/1 Those uptown bankrollers who used to say ‘nix’ to the avant-garde have now learned to say ‘Bug off, Buster’.

2008 Philadelphia Daily News (Nexis) 6 Feb. 53 I'm a serious music lover.., off in my own world, doing my thing. So just bug off, OK?

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

n.¹a1425

n.²1594

adj.1567

v.¹a1790

v.²1865

v.³1950

单词	bug
释义	bugn.¹ Brit. /bʌɡ/, U.S. /bəɡ/ Forms: late Middle English–1600s (1800s Scottish) bugge, 1500s–1700s bugg, 1500s– bug, 1800s boog (English regional (Leicestershire)). Origin: Of unknown origin. Etymology: Origin unknown. Perhaps compare bog n.² and bogy n.¹, and compare also discussion at puck n.¹Compare Welsh bwgan (1547: see buggane n.) and bwg (early 17th cent.), both denoting a kind of supernatural being, of uncertain origin. The late date of the Welsh word suggests that it is probably < English. Compare also (apparently with a suffix forming diminutives) Irish bocán , Scottish Gaelic bòcan , Manx boagane , buggane goblin (compare buggane n.), all denoting a kind of supernatural being, of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately < a Germanic language. Perhaps compare also (apparently with a further derivative suffix) Early Irish bocánach , kind of supernatural being associated with battle. It is possible that these Celtic words ultimately all go back to reflexes of the possible Germanic base discussed at puck n.¹, although the exact routes of transmission are unclear. An alternative suggestion that sense 2 shows a separate word, borrowed < Norwegian regional bugge influential person (see big adj.), cannot be substantiated. 1. An imaginary evil spirit or creature; a bogeyman. Also: an object or source of (esp. needless) fear or dread; an imaginary terror. Cf. scare-bug n., bugbear n. 2. Now rare.In quot. a1425: a scarecrow. †to take bug (English regional (midlands)): (of a horse) to shy, take fright (obsolete). Cf. to take buggane at buggane n., to take buggart at buggart n. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing physical symptoms > [noun] > scarecrow or device for scaring birds buga1425 scarlec1440 scare1530 blencher1531 shail1531 fray-boggard1535 malkinc1565 clacket1594 bogle-bo1603 scarecrow1606 blinks1611 clap-mill1613 shaw-fowl1621 dudman1670 hobidy-booby?1710 cherry-clapper1763 flay-crake1788 potato-bogle1815 cherry-clack1824 feather-piea1825 flay-crow1824 gally-baggar1825 gally-crow1825 bogle1830 deadman1839 hodmandod1881 scarer1930 the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > quality of terribleness > [noun] > one who or that which terrifies > object of terror (usually imaginary) buga1425 buggart1440 gay horse1483 bogle?1507 chimera?1521 bog1527 terriculament1548 bugbear1552 bull-bear1561 hag1563 boggard1574 scare-bug1583 bull-beggar1584 kill-cow fray1589 poker1598 bug-boy1601 bogle-bo1603 mormo1605 mock-beggar1611 mormolukee1624 Tom Poker1673 raw-head1678 hobgoblin1709 bugaboo1733 Tom Po1744 spectre1774 bogy-man1862 bogy1865 a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Baruch vi. 69 (MED) As a bugge either a man of raggis [L. formido] in a place where gourdis wexen kepith no thing, so ben her goddis of tree. Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 55 Bugge, or buglarde, maurus, ducius. a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. xviii. sig. D.vii Leste there happe to be such blacke bugges in dede as folke cal deuilles. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xc[i]. 5 Thou shalt not nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night. 1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. ii. xvi. §1. 299 A bugge meete onely to frate Children. 1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vii. xlii. 370/1 Champions against the maried Clergie, (for women in those dayes were great bugs in their eyes). a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) v. ii. 2 Warwicke was a Bugge that fear'd vs all. View more context for this quotation 1668 J. Glanvill Blow at Mod. Sadducism 149 Timerous Fools, that are afraid of Buggs. 1719 T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth II. 306 Let the bug Predestination Fright the Fools no better know. a1841 T. Sharp Select. Gloss. Provinc. Words Warwickshire (1865) Bug, to take, to take fright, very generally applied to a startlish horse. 1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words at Boog I didn't know whether your horse turned round of his own accord, or whether he took boog. 1870 Once a Week 1 Jan. 501/2 The bug is not only a bugbear but the representative of Bogie. 1915 D. Beard Amer. Boys' Bk. of Bugs, Butterflies & Beetles 7 Bugs..stood for some imaginary hobgoblins or terrible nightmare things which never had any existence out of dreamland. 1993 P. Ackroyd House of Dr. Dee (1994) 76 Those were times of..the spoor, the hell-wain, Boneless and other such bugs of the night and the mist. 2. A self-important, pompous, or conceited person; a pre-eminent or powerful person. In later use only in big bug n. at big adj. and adv. Compounds 2.In later use probably often perceived as a use of bug n.² Cf. also bug adj. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > one who is important > one who is self important bug1536 his nibs1821 panjandrum1825 prima ballerina1923 I AM1926 cheese1965 the mind > emotion > pride > self-importance > [noun] > person bug1536 bladder1579 God almighty1632 cockalorumc1796 his nibs1821 prima donna1834 fly on the (coach-)wheel1840 high muck-a-muck1856 nobs1877 high muckety-muck1882 muckamuck1883 Pooh Bah1886 prima ballerina1923 I AM1926 muckety-muck1927 Pooter1957 cheese1965 1536 T. Revel tr. F. Lambert Summe Christianitie sig. A.vii^v The symple people, haue the iudgement of the spirite aboue al suche proude bugges [L. larvas] the whiche we call Magistrinostri. 1603 T. Robinson Schoole of Musicke sig. C I haue knowne some..who haue striuen to finde out stops, both vnnaturall, vnpleasant, and vnvsuall, (forsooth to be thought great bugges) that haue in all their liues, not bene able to play euen but an easie lesson..at the first sight. 1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 208 That I'm nine times as good a man as he, or e'er a bug of his country. 1843 T. C. Haliburton Attaché II. ix. 163 We'll go to the Lord's House..pick out the big bugs. 1887 Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Oct. 9/1 Moral: This being a Democratic country, always get solid with the titled bugs of the earth, that thy days may be long in the land. 1908 A. Huxley Let. Nov. (1969) i. 29 Julian and Trev are coming I think. They are dreadful bugs now, so am I for that matter. I look so chic in tail coats..and white ties. 1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief viii. 300 He seems to have been quite a big bug under the Emperor. Ran the army for him. 2004 B. Dylan Chronicles I. iii. 115 The big bugs in the press kept promoting me as the mouthpiece, spokesman, or even conscience of a generation. Phrases † to swear by no bugs: to take a genuine oath; to swear sincerely. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1575 G. Gascoigne Dan Bartholmew (new ed.) in Posies p. xcix The messenger sware by no bugges I trowe. 1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 15^v Caligula..bid his horse to supper,..& swore by no bugs, that he would make him a Consul. Compounds † bug-law n. Obsolete a law causing or intended to cause fear. ΘΚΠ society > law > types of laws > [noun] > law intended to inspire terror bug-law1692 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables lxxi. 70 'Tis much the same Case too, betwixt the People, and Bugg-Laws, and Acts of State, that it is here betwixt the Fox and the Lyon. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022). bugn.² Brit. /bʌɡ/, U.S. /bəɡ/ Forms: 1500s–1600s bugge, 1600s–1700s bugg, 1600s– bug. Origin: Of unknown origin. Etymology: Origin unknown.Perhaps a transferred sense of bug n.¹, insects being taken to resemble typical representations of monsters or the monstrous, although early examples show no clear evidence of such association. Sense 1 also appears to show either connection or confusion with earlier budde n. and boud n., which occur in similar senses: beside sharn-bug n. compare earlier sharnbud n.; see also ladybug n. and discussion at ladybird n. In sense 9 perhaps arising as a playful alteration of compounds in boy n.¹ (compare e.g. new bug n. at new adj. and n. Compounds 2a beside earlier new boy n., daybug n. at day n. Compounds 3 beside earlier day-boy n. at day n. Compounds 3), probably with depreciative allusion to the inferior size and status of younger schoolboys, and intended to imply that they are perceived as pests. I. An insect or other arthropod. 1. Any small insect or larva that is considered to be a pest. Also more widely (now chiefly U.S.): any insect or other small arthropod (e.g. a spider or centipede), esp. a beetle.croton bug, harvest bug, June bug, May bug, sowbug, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > unspecified breezea1300 drumblec1350 gagrill14.. bug1594 bud-cutter1693 butter-cutter1704 cane-fly1750 whistle-insect1760 bush-worm1796 gogga1909 nunu1913 minibeast1973 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > eggs or young > [noun] > young or development of young > larva niteOE wormOE grubc1420 canker1440 caterpillarc1440 cankerworm1530 mad1573 bug1594 blote1657 vermicle1657 hexapod1668 grub-worm1752 truffle-worm1753 larva1768 larve1822 1594 Hester's Pearle of Pract. i. xxxii. 14 This medecine caused many times, a certaine blacke bugge, or worme to come forth which had many legs, & was quicke. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 74 Gods rare workmanship in the Ant, the poorest bugge that creeps. 1691 J. Ray S. & E. Country Words in Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 90 Bugge, any insect of the Scarabæi kind. It is, I suppose, a word of general use. 1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists ii. iv. 127 The Bug which breeds the Butterfly. 1785 G. Washington Diaries II. 404 Indeed some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to prey upon the leaves before I left home. 1856 Sat. Rev. 2 258/1 In the field bug we have an instance, etc. 1860 R. W. Emerson Power in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 53 A good tree..will grow in spite of blight, or bug. c1880 J. G. Whittier in Harper's Mag. (1883) Feb. 358/1 A big black bug came flying in. 1928 Cent. Mag. Aug. 405/2 And as for Arizona—the bugs and the alkali—I thought I'd crack. 1961 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing (ed. 9) ii. 137 Tiny bugs skim over the water-surface. 2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 May a13 (advt.) Bio Blitzing in the Boroughs. Kids and families get dirty exploring ants, bugs, worms and all things crawly in two New York parks. 2. a. The bedbug, Cimex lectularius. Sometimes also: any insect of the bedbug family, Cimicidae. Now rare.Formerly known as wall-louse or punaise. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Heteroptera > member of Capsidae or Miridae > cimex lectularius (bed-bug) punaisec1530 wall-louse1540 cimex1585 bug1622 chincha1640 want-louse1655 wiglouse1658 bedbug1740 B. flat1853 Norfolk Howard1862 mahogany flat1864 1622 T. Dekker & P. Massinger Virgin Martir iii. sig. H^v Harpax... Come let my bosome touch you. Spungius. We haue bugges Sir. 1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 588 The Original of these Creatures called Bugs, is from Putrifaction. 1730 J. Southall Treat. Buggs 1 Buggs have been known to be in England above sixty Years, and every Season increasing upon us. 1778 Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser 10 July A valuable and useful Companion..containing safe and quick methods of destroying Bugs, Lice, Fleas..Frogs, Pismires, [etc.]. 1848 R. Aughtie Diary 2 Sept. in B. Harley & J. Harley Gardener at Chatsworth (1992) 119 Went to bed very tired—slept very little, being very much annoyed by bugs. 1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elements Med. Zool. ii. iv. i. 219 The Cimicidæ, or Bugs, belong to the order Hemiptera. 1877 L. A. Duhring Pract. Treat. Dis. Skin 599 The best preventives against bugs in beds are corrosive sublimate and pyrethrum powder. 1918 L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 104 It is very essential to keep these [hammock] nettings clean and free from rats, bugs or roaches. 1954 F. C. Lane All about Insect World 62 In England, when people mention bugs, which they seldom do, they mean bedbugs only. b. Any of the other insects constituting the large order Hemiptera, characterized by sucking and piercing mouthparts and incomplete metamorphosis, and including leafhoppers, aphids, cicadas, and many others.The Hemiptera are often known as the ‘true bugs’, though that term may also be restricted to the suborder Heteroptera. The other traditional suborder, Homoptera, is now often split into three paraphyletic suborders.assassin bug, kissing bug, leaf bug, shield bug, water bug, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > member of bardan1572 bug1771 hemipter1828 hemipteran1877 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Heteroptera > member of bardan1572 bug-fly1712 bug1771 1771 Encycl. Brit. II. 199/2 Cimex, or Bug, in zoology, a genus of insects belonging to the order of hemiptera. Linnæus enumerates no less than 121 species. 1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xvii. 403 An attack (for it deserves no less a name) of the Benchuca..the great black bug of the Pampas. 1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §721 The Geocorisæ or Land-Bugs, and the Hydrocorisæ or Water-Bugs. 1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elements Med. Zool. ii. vi. v. 304. Some writers have compared them [sc. bedbugs] to the Bugs, which they resemble somewhat in their general appearance. 1927 F. Balfour-Browne Insects i. 25 The bugs have developed such elaborate mouth-parts that the labium has become a long trough in which lie the mandibles and maxillæ. 1978 G. B. Williams Pest Extermination Handbk. vi. 55 Bedbugs are Hemiptera, as are all true bugs. 2014 Observer 13 Apr. (New Review section) 24/5 The authors offer a comprehensive review of ‘bugs’, Hemiptera, associated with bromeliads for shelter or food. II. Extended uses. 3. derogatory. A contemptible or dishonest person. In later use chiefly: an annoying person; a pest, a nuisance.In early use †spec. (in Irish use): an English person (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > [noun] > cause of annoyance or vexation > one who or that which annoys noyera1382 annoyancec1405 offender?a1425 fretter?1504 traik1513 vexer1530 annoying1566 annoyer1577 plagueship1628 annoyancer1632 disobliger1648 nuisance1661 galler1674 bug1785 torment1785 botheration1801 nark1846 scunner1865 bother1866 botherer1869 crucifier1870 dinlo1873 bastard1919 skelf1927 dick1966 wazzock1976 knob jockey1989 society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun] > dishonesty > dishonest person shondc725 makeshift1554 roundabout1605 fraudsman1613 trickster1711 bug1785 fly-by-night1796 twister1834 rigger1859 shyster1877 crook1879 heel1914 wide boy1937 1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 225 [One writer] who presumed to make strictures upon one of his performances, he holds as a bug in criticism, whose stench is more offensive than his sting.] 1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Bug, a nick name given by the Irish to Englishmen; bugs having (it is said) been introduced into Ireland by the English. ?1790 Patrick's Day in Carlow Lass 3 But we made the Bugs for to remember, The 17th of March when each brave member, Did oil their hides with Irish timber. 1834 Morning Courier & N.Y. Enquirer 5 June 2/2 Three young bugs have been committed to prison..for breaking into the Methodist and Unitarian churches. 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxiii. 232 S'pose he opened his mouth..? If he didn't shut it up powerful quick he'd lose a lie, every time. That's the kind of a bug Henry [VIII] was. 1952 W. D. Overholser Fabulous Gunman iv. 40 Was it Chapman who touched the match to the fuse, the ‘miserable bug of a man’, determined to show everybody that he was more than Nita thought he was? 1973 J. D. MacDonald Turquoise Lament xv. 238 You're a bug like Brindle. You're rotten! You know that? You've got a cold heart. 2015 P. A. O'Reilly Wonders 103 He was sure they would..give him a brusque response that left no doubt about their wish to be rid of this annoying bug. 4. colloquial (originally U.S.). a. A person with an obsessive or enthusiastic interest in something. Frequently with modifying word indicating the object of obsession or enthusiasm. Cf. bugs adj. 2.money bug, shutter-bug, speed bug, etc.: see the first element.See also firebug n. 2, jitterbug n., squander-bug n. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] > temporary desire > one who has temporary desire bug1841 1841 Congress. Globe June 133 Mr. Alford of Georgia warned the ‘tariff bugs’ of the South that..he would read them out of church. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 18 Apr. (Mag. section) 1/2 There are no more critical people than what are generally classified as baseball ‘bugs’. 1921 Pacific Radio News Oct. 99/1 He must be a friend because he says he is a radio bug. 1930 Pittsburgh Courier 20 Dec. ii. 5/1 So one-sided was the fight that hundreds of bugs left the arena as early as the twelfth round. 1971 J. D. Horan Blue Messiah vi. 65 That son of a bitch Farrell's a bug on kids talkin' in the halls. 1988 M. Bradbury Unsent Lett. 84 Maybe we could exchange snaps, if you're a camera bug too, like me. 2015 Advertiser (Austral.) (Nexis) 4 July 24 Is your child a music bug? b. Usually with the. An obsessive or enthusiastic interest in something. Frequently with modifying word indicating the object of obsession or enthusiasm.Sometimes in figurative expressions alluding to illness or insects, as to catch a bug or to be bitten by a bug.travel bug: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [noun] > temporary desire frenzy1632 mania1689 furor1704 influenza1773 rage1780 furore1790 monomania1834 bug1887 craze1887 enthusiasm1895 1887 Boston Daily Globe 28 Nov. 1/8 Like other better people before me, I had been bitten by the gold bug, and now had to take the consequences. 1899 C. L. Cullen in Sun (N.Y.) 2 July 4/3 When you get the gambling bug in combination with the rum bug, you're in trouble and plenty of it. 1937 N. Coward Present Indicative ix. 377 Bushell and Guerrier, having firmly inoculated me with the naval bug, obtained permission from their captain..for us both to travel..with them. 1942 Motor Boating Apr. 67/1 I think men who get the bug to build a boat will build it even if they have to build it in an air raid shelter. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway xii. 303 I love being on aerodromes and seeing aeroplanes. It's a sort of bug that gets in you. 1952 ‘H. Grey’ Hoods xliv. 331 You still got that bug in your head? To clip the Federal Reserve bank? 1959 Which? Dec. 171 A boy bitten by the railway bug. 2000 Independent (Nexis) 9 Nov. 4 Perhaps he will catch the acting bug and go on to play a detective inspector in The Bill. 5. Originally U.S. a. A defect or fault in a machine (esp. an electrical or electronic one), or in a process, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [noun] > an imperfection > defect or fault or flaw faultc1320 breckc1369 villainyc1400 offencec1425 defectc1450 defection1526 vitiosity1538 faintness1543 gall1545 eelist1549 mar1551 hole1553 blemish1555 wart1603 flaw1604 mulct1632 wound1646 failurea1656 misfeature1818 bug1875 out1886 1875 Operator 15 Aug. 5/1 The biggest ‘bug’ yet has been discovered in the U.S. Hotel Electric Annunciator. 1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Mar. 1/1 Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his phonograph—an expression for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble. 1935 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 39 43 Casting, forging and riveting are processes hundreds of years old, and, to use an Americanism, ‘have the bugs ironed out of them’. 1956 ‘N. Shute’ Beyond Black Stump v. 138 They worked..until the rig had settled down and all the bugs had been ironed out. 2007 Flying Aug. 57/2 It takes time to work the bugs out of most all-new airplane designs. b. Computing. An error or other cause of malfunction in a computer program, piece of software, etc. ΚΠ 1952 Rev. Electronic Digital Computers (Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers) 18/2 The week we spent in getting the last bug out of our instruction program was an investment we hated to have to make. 1971 Guardian 1 Nov. 6/4 The new computer was delivered..last week... Ironing out the bugs will probably take until the new year. 1985 P. Laurie Databases i. 35 Every piece of software ever written has ‘bugs’ in it. 1995 J. Miller Voxpop x. 149 I have to test them all for faults and bugs and to see whether every game and stage is possible—especially for sophisticated [computer] games. 2008 New Scientist 23 Feb. 24/1 All software can contain bugs or flaws, and researchers routinely find them in their programs. 6. colloquial (originally U.S.). a. A harmful microorganism or virus; a germ. Cf. superbug n. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > organism > micro-organism > [noun] microphyte1859 microzoon1859 microzoary1863 mycetes1874 spore1876 microbe1880 microorganism1880 microzooid1881 microbion1883 bug1885 macrospore1888 microzoan1890 microzoarian1890 zymophyte1890 germ1897 bot1937 probiotic1974 1885 Trans. Mich. State Med. Soc. 9 177 He..Knew all the mysteries of bacterian skill, And never let a micrococcus grow When he had ample power the bug to kill. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 58 Disease-germs are sometimes referred to as bugs. 1941 J. Cary House of Children lxvii. 279 May I get into your bed, Harry?—I'm freezing. I won't breathe any of my bugs on you. 2001 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 16 June 9 You need a good scrub with soap and water to kill the bugs. b. An illness, esp. one caused by a microorganism or virus.flu bug, stomach bug, tummy bug: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > [noun] unhealc700 untrumnessc897 adleeOE sicknessc967 cothec1000 unhealthc1000 woe?a1200 ail?c1225 lying?c1225 maladyc1275 unsoundc1275 feebless1297 languora1375 languishc1384 disease1393 aegritudea1400 lamea1400 maleasea1400 soughta1400 wilc1400 malefaction?a1425 firmityc1426 unwholesomenessc1449 ill1450 languenta1500 distemperancea1535 the valley of the shadow of death1535 affect?1537 affection?1541 distemperature1541 inability1547 sickliness1565 languishment1576 cause1578 unhealthfulness1589 crazedness1593 languorment1593 evilness1599 strickenness1599 craziness1602 distemper1604 unsoundness1605 invaletude1623 unhealthiness1634 achaque1647 unwellness1653 disailment1657 insalubrity1668 faintiness1683 queerness1687 invalidity1690 illness1692 ill health1698 ailment1708 illing1719 invalescence1724 peakingness1727 sickishness1727 valetudinariness1742 ailingness1776 brash1786 invalidism1794 poorliness1814 diseasement1826 invalidship1830 valetudinarianism1839 ailing1862 invalidhood1863 megrims1870 pourriture1890 immersement1903 bug1918 condition1920 the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > [noun] soreOE cothec1000 sicknessc1000 evilc1275 maladyc1275 grievance1377 passiona1382 infirmityc1384 mischiefa1387 affectiona1398 grievinga1398 grief1398 sicka1400 case?a1425 plaguec1425 diseasea1475 alteration1533 craze1534 uncome1538 impediment1542 affliction?1555 ailment1606 disaster1614 garget1615 morbus1630 ail1648 disaffect1683 disorder1690 illness1692 trouble1726 complaint1727 skookum1838 claim1898 itis1909 bug1918 wog1925 crud1932 bot1937 lurgy1947 Korean haemorrhagic fever1951 nadger1956 1918 Alton (Illinois) Evening Tel. 30 Oct. 11/5 We've got the bug, the doctor said; He looked with eyes so keen At every single soldier's throat And ordered quarantine. 1919 W. A. Fraser Bulldog Carney iii. 129 ‘Gee! now I will get well,’ he said; ‘I'll beat the bug out now—I'll have heart.’ 1953 K. Ferrier Let. 30 Mar. (2003) vii. 189 I should have gone three days ago but caught a bug from somewhere and a temperature and a very queasy stomach. 2009 Independent 21 Apr. 14/2 The sickness..is believed to have been caused by a winter vomiting bug spread by staff. 7. U.S. slang. An irrational, foolish, or insane person.Cf. bugs adj. 1, bug-crazy adj. at Compounds 2b, betsy bug n. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > mentally ill person > [noun] > mad person woodman1297 madmanc1330 lunatic1377 franticc1380 madwomana1438 March harec1500 Bedlam beggar1525 fanaticc1525 bedlama1529 frenetic1528 Jack o' Bedlam1528 Tom o' Bedlam1569 crack-brain1570 madbrain1570 Tom1575 madcap1589 gelt1596 madhead1600 brainsick1605 madpash1611 non compos1628 madling1638 bedlam-man1658 bedlamerc1675 fan1682 bedlamite1691 cracka1701 lymphatic1708 shatter-brain1719 mad1729 maniaca1763 non compos mentis1765 shatter-pate1775 shatter-wit1775 insane1786 craze1831 dement1857 crazy1867 crackpot1883 loony1884 bug1885 psychopath1885 dingbat1887 psychopathic1890 ding-a-ling1899 meshuggener1900 détraqué1902 maddiea1903 nut1908 mental1913 ding1929 lakes1934 wack1938 fruitcake1942 nutty1942 barm-pot1951 nutcake1953 nutter1958 nutcase1959 nut job1959 meshuga1962 nutsy1964 headcase1965 nutball1968 headbanger1973 nutso1975 wacko1977 nut bar1978 mentalist1990 1885 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Great Smoky Mountains x. 201 Them crazy bugs in N-N-Nashval sent him a book ev'y time they made a batch o' new laws. c1906 ‘Sleepy’ Burke Prison Gates Ajar ii. 9 I..was landed in a ‘nut college’ (insane asylum). It was the custom then to take the ‘bugs’ (inmates) out to play ball every afternoon. 1956 N. Algren Walk on Wild Side 232 Hundreds of bugs loaded with gold,..willing to pay somebody to make them happy. 1974 R. Stone Dog Soldiers 64 What about that bug up in Yellowstone Park? He had his pockets full of human finger bones. 2001 C. Stroud Black Water Transit (2002) 130 He's a bug, a psycho, a stone-cold killer. 8. In plural. slang (originally U.S.). Biology, as a subject of study; spec. bacteriology, or a department for this. Now somewhat rare. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > study > [noun] > biology biology1799 organomy1801 physiognosya1832 biological science1856 organonomy1857 life science1861 biognosy1880 bugs1900 bioscience1941 bio1943 1900 Dial. Notes 2 16 The subject of biology is also called bugs. 1933 E. Partridge Slang To-day & Yesterday iii. 191 Bugs, according to the context, bacteria or bacteriology. 1963 New Society 22 Aug. 5/2 ‘Bugs’ may still be used for biology. 1974 P. Wright Lang. Brit. Industry vii. 62 Bugs..can stand for the whole bacteriology department (‘I work in bugs’, ‘Take this beast to bugs’). 9. British School slang (usually mildly depreciative). Chiefly at a boarding school: a pupil or student, esp. one who is younger or considered inferior in status.Frequently with defining word or phrase, as boarder bug, grammar school bug, etc.daybug, new bug: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > child > boy > [noun] knightc893 knapec1000 knaveOE knape childc1175 knave-childa1225 groom?c1225 knight-bairnc1275 pagec1300 mana1382 swainc1386 knave-bairna1400 little mana1425 man-childa1438 boy1440 little boya1475 lad1535 boykin1540 tomboya1556 urchin1556 loonc1560 kinchin-co(ve)1567 big boy1572 dandiprat1582 pricket1582 boy child1584 callant1597 suck-egg1609 nacketc1618 custrel1668 hospital-boy1677 whelp1710 laddie1721 charity-boy1723 pam-child1760 chappie1822 bo1825 boyo1835 wagling1837 shirttail boy1840 boysie1846 umfaan1852 nipper1859 yob1859 fellow-my-lad?1860 laddo1870 chokra1875 shegetz1885 spalpeen1891 spadger1899 bug1900 boychick1921 sonny boy1928 sonny1939 okie1943 lightie1946 outjie1961 oke1970 1900 J. S. Farmer Public School Word-bk. 139 New-bug, a new boy. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 29 Day-bugs and boarder-bugs. 1936 A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza vi. 63 It really wasn't right to treat New Bugs the way he did—as though they were equals. 1987 Private Eye 2 Oct. 23/1 To well-brought-up Tories this simply shows him up as a grammar school bug, too keen by half. 2005 ‘A. Halam’ Siberia iv. 72 In third year..they [sc. the wardens] didn't patrol the dorms through the night the way they did with the younger Bugs. 10. U.S. Horse Racing. A weight allowance given to an apprentice jockey, typically for the first year of racing. Hence also (occasionally): an apprentice jockey. Often attributive. [Probably originally (like sense 9) in allusion to small size. Quot. 2003 probably shows a later rationalization of the origin of this sense.] ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [noun] > required or suitable weight of rider > deduction allowance1802 bug1908 1908 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 7 Nov. 8/3 Jockey Upton has lost his ‘bug’. 1929 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 19 Sept. 28/1 A ‘bug rider’ is a boy with an apprentice allowance... The bug is that five-pound allowance granted to all apprentice riders. 1935 San Mateo (Calif.) Times 20 Nov. 9/6 Local racing brought out fairly competent ‘bug’ boys. 1969 N.Y. Times 16 Mar. s10/5 Without the bug, Thomas is lucky to get two or three mounts a day. 1987 J. Hoppe Pretty Penny Farm v. 71 I shovel out the stables and hang around the bugs. 2003 S. D. Price Horseman's Illustr. Dict. 9/1 Allowances are indicated in racetrack programs by one or more asterisks... Because the asterisk resembles an insect, apprentices are known as bug boys. III. Technical uses. 11. A key in a telegraph or Morse code machine, typically in the form of a lever that pivots horizontally, which causes a continuous series of dots or dashes to be transmitted for as long as it is pressed. Now rare and historical. [Apparently so called on account of a beetle on the logo of Vibroplex, the manufacturer of such a device.] ΚΠ 1910 Commerc. Telegraphers' Jrnl. Oct. 323/2 Why should operators object to buying or renting typewriters when they foolishly buy the sending bug? 1952 Railroad Mag. Aug. 12/2 I've got an old bug that's worth about thirty cents on the open market, but I'd have to be pretty hungry to sell her at any price. 2015 J. R. Walker Crack of Bat vii. 151 Western Union operators were stationed at Major and Minor League parks throughout the country, sending Morse code, dots-and-dashes descriptions of the game using a ‘bug’. 12. Originally and chiefly U.S. Any of various small cars resembling or modified to resemble a bug (sense 1); now spec. (often with capital initial) a Volkswagen Type 1 car, or a subsequent development of this model; a beetle (beetle n.² 2c).A proprietary name. ΚΠ 1919 S. Lewis Free Air iii. 21 It was a tin beetle of a car; that agile, cheerful, rut-jumping model known as a ‘bug’. 1925 Mich. Manufacturer & Financial Rec. 29 Aug. 8/1 Continental Motors Corporation has imported from England a standard model of the type of small ‘bug’ car widely used in Europe. 1939 Safety Jan. 16/1 Bug, car from which body has been removed and replaced by some odd-shaped or streamlined body. 1941 Washington Post 16 Mar. b9/1 The little ‘Bantam-car’, ‘bug’, ‘jeep’, etc., as it is variously known to the troops, seems destined to become the spearhead of the Army's mechanized units. 1956 Pop. Mech. Sept. 153/1 With typical thoroughness, the VW engineers designed a fleet of ships just to haul the little ‘bugs’. 1981 PR Newswire (Nexis) 14 May The Volkswagen Beetle, the most-produced car in history, will set another record Friday when the 20 millionth Bug rolls off the line. 2008 S. Meaney Perfectly Imperfect 78 I remember..in my late teens, after buying my first car, a 1974 blue Volkswagen Bug, feeling a true sense of freedom. 13. U.S. slang. A burglar alarm. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > [noun] > alarm signal generally > burglar-alarm burglar-alarm1840 bug1920 1920 Evening Rev. (E. Liverpool, Ohio) 24 Sept. 1/1 A bunch of ‘yeggs’ tampered with ‘The Bug’ on a bank and then ‘beat it’. 1921 Princeton (Indiana) Daily Democrat 12 Jan. 1/7 Warning of day or night attempts at bank robbery will be given by means of an electrically operated siren... The device..is decorated with a bug, the name of ‘bug’ having been given the device by yeggmen. 1950 H. E. Goldin Dict. Amer. Underworld Lingo 35/2 There ain't no bug on this joint... Let's charge out (go to work). 1979 V. Patrick Pope of Greenwich Village iii. 29 They had a bug on one of the inside doors. 14. North American. A small makeshift lantern. Also: a torch. Cf. bug light n. (b) at Compounds 2b. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > torch > [noun] blazec1000 torchc1290 lampa1382 flambec1430 shaft?c1450 cresset1578 brandon?1614 mussal1698 ruffy1793 torch-brand1825 bug1924 the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > [noun] > lamp > lantern > small bowet1440 bug light1835 bug1924 1924 M. H. Mason Arctic Forests 239 Harry lighted the ‘bug’, and for the next few long, dark hours I was blindly holding the sled up... In front of me danced the vague shadow of Harry and the dim light thrown before him by the ‘bug’. 1931 Motor Boating Feb. 238/2 Take a..miner's bug for lighting camp at night. The bug is made from a small lard pail. Punch a hole in one side for the candle. 1936 L. Duncan Over Wall vii. 111 I..sent the bright beam from my ‘bug’ from one end of the car to the other. 1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 20 Bug,..a crude lantern made by punching a hole in the side of a can and ramming a candle through it. 15. Originally U.S. colloquial. A concealed microphone or similar piece of electronic surveillance equipment used to listen to or record a person or conversation. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > microphone carbon transmitter1878 microphone1878 carbon microphone1879 pantelephone1881 phonoscope1890 mike1911 condenser microphone1921 magnetophone1922 radio microphone1922 ionophone1924 crystal microphone1925 ribbon microphone1925 radio mike1926 laryngophone1927 velocity microphone1931 ribbon mike1933 pressure microphone1934 bug1936 eight ball1937 ribbon1937 throat microphone1937 throat mike1937 rifle microphone1938 parabolic microphone1939 lip microphone1941 intercept1942 spike mike1950 spy-mike1955 spy-microphone1960 mic1961 rifle mike1961 gun microphone1962 spike microphone1962 shotgun microphone1968 Lavallière1972 wire1973 sneaky1974 multi-mikes1990 the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > electronic espionage > [noun] > device bug1936 wiretap1950 spy-mike1955 spy-microphone1960 sneaky1974 1936 P. S. Van Sise Fighting Underworld xvi. 112 The dictaphones (later called ‘dicks’ or ‘bugs’ by the force) were ordered. 1946 W. L. Gresham Nightmare Alley xi. 162 That would have been a beautiful place to plant a bug if you wanted to work the waiting room gab angle. 1948 F. Brown Murder can be Fun (1951) xiv. 215 There's been a bug on your phone line for three days. Man on duty in the basement. 1961 A. Christie Pale Horse xvi. 164 Perhaps you have some idea that this office of mine might have a bug in it? 2012 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 16 June 3 Queensland criminals are hiring security experts to sweep their houses for bugs and other hidden police surveillance equipment. Phrases P1. to put (also leave, etc.) a bug in a person's ear (and variants): to put an idea or a suggestion to someone, especially one that is hard to resist or ignore; to make someone aware of something, especially something of a confidential nature.In quot. 1859 showing similar use of to go away with a bug in one's ear. ΚΠ 1859 Nebraska Advertiser (Brownville) 6 Oct. 2/1 Many who attended the speaking expecting 'fun', went away with a 'bug in their ear!'—Mr. Pollock..'opened the eyes of the natives' by presenting facts, figures, dates, and documents.] 1875 Findlay (Ohio) Jeffersonian 5 Feb. 3/3 We still hear complaints about the lamp-lighter not attending to his business. For several nights past he has neglected to light some lamps on West Main Cross street. The Council should put a small bug in his ear. 1885 C. Baswitz Levy the Drummer (typescript, Libr. of Congr.) i. i. 3 Will, I have been wanting to put a bug in your ear, all morning... Listen Boys... There is a young Sheenie selling clothing..; I propose we put up a job on him. 1921 H. A. Franck Working North from Patagonia xx. 536 Leaving that bug in their ears, we finally ended our long and leisurely diplomatic conference. 1963 G. Ryga Hungry Hills 129 He don't know we're in moonshine, but he put a bug into the cop's ear. 1998 Billboard 26 Sept. 16/2 Making an album of movie tracks wasn't his idea; Columbia Records president Don Jenner put the bug in his ear. 2003 C. G. Appy Patriots 6 The assistant division commander did not like the way I was operating... So he put a bug in the ear of the division commander. P2. to have (also get) a bug in one's ear: to be obsessed or strongly influenced by a particular idea, plan, etc., esp. one that is unrealistic or irrational. ΚΠ 1876 World (N.Y.) 28 Sept. 2/5 A meeting of the depositors of the Bond Street Savings Bank was held..in the Bowery, last night...One speaker addressed the meeting in a feeble voice, amid cries of 'Shut up', 'You have got a bug in your ear', 'This is a packed meeting.' &c. 1901 J. Habermehl Life on Western Rivers 209 Thus I got a bug in my ear not to hire out unless under a special contract in the presence of witnesses. 1941 Boilermakers Jrnl. Apr. 112/1 So many welders doing a general run of maintenance work soon get to feel they are class A welders. They get a bug in their ear. 1993 J. Agee Strange Angels (1994) xvi. 217 Inez has a bug in her ear about something. 2008 M. J. Miller Outside looking In xv. 375 Ordinarily a good and balanced critic of television, he seems to have had a bug in his ear when it came to this show. P3. U.S. slang. to have bugs (in one’s head or brain): to be mad or mentally unstable. Cf. bugs adj. 1. ΚΠ 1903 ‘O. Henry’ in McClure's Mag. July 329/1 Poor Billy. He's got bugs. Sitting on ice, and calling his best friends pseudonyms. 1914 J. Hawthorne Subterranean Brotherhood xiii. 247 Whether the beetle was alive and got away, or whether the prisoner himself had ‘bugs’, as the slang is, at any rate the examiners reported no beetle. 1962 H. F. Searles in Jrnl. Amer. Psychoanalytic Assoc. 10 30 It was only later on in her therapy that she became able to realize that she, in a figurative sense, ‘was “bugs”’, or ‘had bugs in her head’, so to speak. 1996 C. Emery Dangerous Games iv. 55 The man has bugs in his brain! He can't even comb his hair. P4. Originally and chiefly U.S. to have a bug up one's ass (also arse, etc.) (and variants). Also in similative contexts. a. To be obsessed or strongly influenced by an idea, plan, etc., esp. one that is unrealistic or irrational; to have an obsession about. Cf. to have (also get) a bug in one's ear at Phrases 2. ΚΠ 1949 A. I. Bezzerides Thieves' Market iii. 24 The old man died with a bug up his ass [sc. a dream of running his own business]. 1951 M. Spillane One Lonely Night iii. 59 You think I was taken in by that vacation line? Hell. You have another bug up your behind. It has to do with those green cards. 1988 G. Matthews Gold Flake Hydrant xii. 170 She's really got a bug up her ass about this Washington thing, a brainwave that'll swamp her. 2011 Courier-Post (New Jersey) (Nexis) 1 Oct. 16/3 The irrepressible Adelaide keeps busting into the Harmons' home. 'Addie will always find a way in... She has a bug up her ass about this house. Always has'. b. To be annoyed, angry, or in a bad mood. Also (chiefly with about, over, etc.): to have a persistent grievance with or dislike for someone or something. ΚΠ 1949 V. Van Praag Day without End vii. 86 That lousy Wormsley..gets a bug up his ass every time he thinks he should make noises like an intelligence officer. 1955 B. Schulberg Waterfront ix. 118 The pier superintendent has a bug up his rump this morning. 1982 E. Leonard Cat Chaser xiv. 187 These people with little bugs up their ass, they come here to cause trouble. 1999 Toronto Star (Nexis) 8 Aug. DeShields has a bug up his butt, steaming..about all the positive press rookie Jerry Hairston has garnered while filling in at second. 2016 W. Wright Icons: Celebrity Satire 252 Prince Charles was less than pleased... ‘Me mum's had a bug up her arse about Camilla ever since I took a fancy to her.’ c. To be or become restless or nervous; to fidget. ΚΠ 1950 Opus Pistorum (typescript, Univ. Calif. Los Angeles) II. ii. 48 Billie could talk about Jean all afternoon,..but I have a bug up my ass. 1960 G. Sire Deathmakers xiii. 164 It's going to be tough shit if just one of them gets a bug up his ass. 1990 E. Leonard Get Shorty (1998) xii. 109 Ray Bones is looking for you. He's got some kind of bug up his ass, can't sit still. 2015 A. Malkin Morgan xxii. 171 They're constantly moving around like they've got bugs up their asses. Compounds C1. attributive. Computing. With the sense ‘of or relating to errors or other causes of malfunction in a computer program’, as bug list, bug tracker, etc. Cf. sense 5b. See also Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1966 E. C. Van Horn Computer Design Asynchronously Reproducible Multiprocessing (Doctoral Diss., Mass. Inst. Technol.) iii. 63 Both nonfunctionality and noncompletion lurking bug effects do not occur. 1983 Computer-aided Engin. Jrnl. 1 9/3 The bug list grew and grew. 1995 Computerworld 27 Mar. 116 A vendor's receptiveness to bug reports and how much face-to-face contact it provides are top priorities for LAN managers. 2003 L. Ash Web Testing Compan. iv. 100 Once enough information has been gathered on the issue to understand it, searching the bug database is the next logical step. 2012 B. W. Fitzpatrick & B. Collins-Sussman Team Geek ii. 46 Hallway conversations about bugs should be recorded as updates in the bug tracker. C2. a. General attributive with reference to arthropods, esp. insects, as bug catcher, bug exterminator, bug infestation, bug remover, bug zapper, etc. Cf. branch I. ΚΠ 1845 Racine (Wisconsin Territory) Advocate 12 Aug. Persons who have gardens, perhaps are not aware of the value of toads as bug catchers. 1859 Nonconformist 27 Apr. 358/2 Wholesale manufacturer of..Mice and Rat Killer, Bug Exterminator, Sand Tablets, [etc.] 1902 Defiance (Ohio) Democrat 31 July 5/1 We've got every kind of bug remover, from fly paper to paris green. 1914 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 June 1300/1 There was, as at Guy's and other London hospitals, an official bug catcher. 1925 Marion (Iowa) Daily Sentinel 22 Oct. 7/2 The..extension entomologist of Iowa State has recommended to farmers with heavy bug infestations to burn off the heavily matted bluegrass patches. 1960 Jennings (Louisiana) Daily News 31 May 5/6 I'd have welcomed the opportunity to just once go up to a bug exterminator and ask if he really itches for success. 1972 Westport (Connecticut) Fairpress 23 Aug. 8/2 A portable ultraviolet bug ‘zapper’ to control mosquitos near public facilities. 1987 Toronto Star (Nexis) 14 Mar. g3 The glue residue can be removed fairly simply with the liquid tar and bug remover sold in most auto stores. 1999 X. H. Truong in T. C. B. Chancellor et al. Rice Tungro Dis. Managem. 118 (caption) High bug infestation levels in the transplanting trials during dry (B) and wet (C) seasons. 2001 J. Baggott Girl Talk 44 We sat there in the blue glow of the bug zapper, frying bugs full tilt. 2004 Trailer Life Feb. 11 Thetford's Black Streak & Bug Remover was thoroughly tested on fiberglass, aluminum, gelcoat, etc. 2015 Green Parent Apr. 34/2 I made Explorer Bags for my children that included crayons.., bug catchers and magnifying glasses. b. bug agaric n. rare the fly agaric toadstool, Amanita muscaria, which was formerly smeared on bedsteads to repel bedbugs. ΚΠ 1781 B. Wilmer Observ. Poisonous Veg. 54 (heading) Bug agaric. 2005 T. Dale Revitalize your Hormones vii. 219/2 Agaricus Muscarius (toadstool—bug agaric). bugbane n. any of various toxic plants of the genera Cimifuga and Actaea (family Ranunculaceae), formerly used to repel bedbugs; esp. A. cimifuga (or C. foetida) of Siberia and East Asia; cf. baneberry n. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants yielding poison > plants yielding insecticide or used to repel insects > [noun] fly-bane1597 bugbane1723 timbo1725 fly-agaric1788 rattleweed1793 cube1924 1723 R. Ball Astrol. Improv'd (ed. 2) i. 59 He [sc. Mercury] rules Carrots, Carroways.., Medow Treyfoyl or Bugbane. 1880 Libr. Universal Knowl. III. 862 Cimicifuga, or bugbane, an herb of the order ranunculaceæ. 2001 Org. Gardening Apr. 54/3 Elegant woodland wildflowers, bugbanes thrive in partial shade to full sun, producing 3- to 7-foot spikes of bottlebrush-like blooms. bug bite n. a bite from an insect. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > [noun] > wound > stings or bites stingc900 stinging1398 biting1527 flea-bite1570 flea-biting1598 bite1736 bug bite1739 snip1767 stangc1800 myiasis1839 snake-bite1839 tooth-wound1899 1739 J. Douglas Diss. Venereal Dis. Pt. III vi. 93 Whenever any person shews you a..flea or bug bite above his eye brow or any where else..insist upon't they are poxed. 1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. xi. 27/1 Poisoned by bad cookery, blistered with bugbites. 1967 Changing Times July 47 (heading) What to do about bug bites. 2003 Vibe Dec. 126/2 Tea tree oil is great for blemishes, bug bites, everything. bug-crazy adj. chiefly U.S. (a) having a passion for (or obsession with) bugs (sense 1) or (occasionally) germs; (b) crazy, insane (cf. sense 7). ΚΠ 1886 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 9 Oct. 8 (caption) She was bug crazy. The mysterious female from New Orleans whose captive Brazilian beetle astonished and disgusted the hotel boarders. 1897 Jrnl. Med. & Sci. Nov. 411/1 It is not surprising that the laity have, as an old doctor puts it, gone ‘bug crazy’ and that they have an increasingly morbid interest in disease germs. 1901 in L. C. Pickett Jinny 79 One er deze yer Cap'ns er Marines got bug-crazy..en tried ter split Marse John Brown wide open wid his saber. 1988 Weekly World News 27 Dec. 7/5 The bug-crazy natives have devised special nets to capture the delectable insect invaders. 2008 Geelong (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 21 Mar. (TV section) 6 The..scientist who successfully tests a top-secret invisibility serum on himself... He goes bug-crazy and starts..doing things to women that an invisible nutcase would. bug destroyer n. a person, device, or substance that kills insects or other bugs (sense 1); an insecticide; cf. bug killer n. ΚΠ 1786 H. Lemoine Kentish Curate IV. xvii. 215 The Doctor proved a very superficial examiner, and a low fellow, who formerly had been a bug destroyer in ordinary to a garrison. 1806 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1807) 10 221 Bug Destroyer to His Majesty, and Flea Catcher in general. 1888 Amer. Garden May 180/1 (advt.) We tested it on our trial grounds with good results, and we believe it to be the best bug destroyer. 1932 Pop. Mech. Aug. 336/2 An effective and non-inflammable insect and bug destroyer. 2014 Gulf Weekly (Nexis) 24 Sept. My villa has been invaded by a swarm of tiny ants... How do I get rid of them? I'm not happy with calling in the bug destroyers as I have children and animals in the home. bug dope n. colloquial (originally and chiefly North American) insecticide or insect repellent; cf. bug juice n. 2. ΚΠ 1904 Mansfield (Ohio) News 19 Mar. (cartoon caption) Mary went to a wise old guy who had the proper bug dope to make radium. 1907 Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gaz. 1 Mar. 4/2 The [legal] action.., brought to recover for bug dope which is alleged to have failed in its errand. 1988 E. Hoagland in R. Bangs & C. Kallen Paths less Travelled 22 The..proprietor sat..in a cloud of flies most of the day, spraying bug dope on the meats that he had on display. 2012 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 18 Aug. a10 Blackflies..biting you..in a sun-up until sundown assault that you will try, fruitlessly, to fend off with bug dope. bug fix n. Computing a change to a computer program designed to correct errors and eliminate causes of malfunction. ΚΠ 1969 Proc. 24th National Conf. ACM 463/2 A new version of the system that contains the newly incorporated components as well as all the bug fixes provided by the development groups. 1982 Data Communications (Nexis) Feb. 107 A program can be released as version 1.1, and minor changes (for example, for bug-fixes) incorporated as versions 1.2 and 1.3. 2005 Wall St. Jrnl. 17 Jan. (Central ed.) r3/1 Nearly two-thirds of companies expect to negotiate lower prices for their annual software maintenance contracts—which entitle them to updates, bug fixes and technical support. bug fixing n. Computing the action or process of changing a computer program in order to correct errors and eliminate causes of malfunction. ΚΠ 1969 Proc. AFIPS Spring Joint Computer Conf. 34 416/1 Over a period of time the net bug fixing progress was zero. 1985 PC Week (Nexis) 1 Oct. 47 Lotus announced that it was delaying its announced shipment date for a month in order to do further bug-fixing. 2015 Computing (Nexis) 4 Aug. Commercial development is driven by competition and compliance to industry standards, which puts a higher priority on stability, security and bug fixing. † bug-fly n. Obsolete rare a flying insect (unidentified). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Heteroptera > member of bardan1572 bug-fly1712 bug1771 1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 352 10 and 11 are Bug-flies observed in the Woods about Hampsted Heath. bug-hunt v. colloquial intransitive (a) to search for and remove or kill insects or other bugs (now rare); (b) to search for or collect insects or other bugs (sense 1), esp. as entomological specimens. ΚΠ 1801 Farther Excursions of Observant Pedestrian IV. 234 She assured me she was terrible busy bug-hunting. 1901 A. B. Wylde Mod. Abyssinia xiv. 324 At about midnight we both turned out and sat over a fire in the courtyard and took off our things and bug-hunted; we managed to rid ourselves of them. 1901 C. W. Stubbs In Minister Garden iii. 29 I hear there are a good many rare fen plants still to be found there,..and you can grub about and bug-hunt to your heart's content. 1936 D. Malone Last Landfall iii. viii. 261 Your usual morning employment was bug-hunting. This was carried out incessantly, both by day and night. 1957 Times 30 Oct. 11/4 Should we, however zealously we may have bug hunted, do as well as that Thames lighterman who answered a six part question on the Glanville fritillary butterfly? 2010 C. Alt Virginia Woolf & Study of Nature i. 31 Virginia bug-hunted with her siblings, netting butterflies, sugaring for moths, and setting specimens for display. bug hunt n. colloquial a search for insects or other bugs (sense 1). ΚΠ 1877 People (Indianapolis) 3 Mar. 1/6 Ernest Morris started on another bug hunt. 1948 Wilson Bull. 60 113 When the adult [sc. a bird] caught an insect, the young stopped its ineffectual bug hunt and begged. 2012 S. Martineau & L. Noyes Bugs in Garden 5 Bug hunt... See what creepy-crawlies you can find living in your garden or in the park. bug hunting n. colloquial the action or practice of searching for or collecting insects or other bugs (sense 1), esp. as entomological specimens. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > zoology > study of specific types of animal > [noun] > insects entomology1766 insectology1766 bugology1843 bug hunting1855 1855 C. Kingsley Glaucus 7 The naturalist was looked on as a harmless enthusiast, who went ‘bug-hunting’, simply because he had not spirit to follow a fox. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 19 May 4/2 The pursuit that in schoolboy days of irreverence we used to call ‘bug-hunting’. 2015 Ledbury Reporter (Nexis) 15 Oct. A dedicated space..has been filled with equipment needed for the activities, including bug hunting, nature trails and pond dipping kits. bug-infested adj. infested with insects (or other bugs), esp. bedbugs. ΚΠ 1832 A. Slade Records of Travels in Turkey, Greece, & Black Sea I. iii. 89 It was infinitely preferable to going to one of the bug-infested inns. 1908 Indian Med. Gaz. 43 173/1 There are old wooden beds used in the sleeping wards of this jail which are very bug infested. 2005 L. Leblanc Pretty in Punk App. 237 Squats range from houses creatively restored by committed squatters to garbage-strewn, bug-infested, urine-smelling disposable housing. bug killer n. a person, device, or substance that kills insects or other bugs (sense 1); an insecticide; cf. bug destroyer n. ΚΠ 1768 North Briton 20 Aug. 376 Most courtiers, from the first M——r of St—e down to his m—y's Rat-catcher or Bug-killer, are at present seized with a certain disease called Ochlophobia. 1791 G. Huddesford Salmagundi 111 Shrimp-scalders and bug-killers. 1860 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 9 June 442/1 The number of casualties which have taken place referrible to the administration of vermin powders, bug-killers, rat-powders, etc. 1950 Pop. Mech. Mar. 95/1 DDT and other high-powered bug killers..cost one fourth as much as the older types to spray. 2013 C. Belden Shriver 2015 x. 166 As soon as he stepped onto the grass, away from the safety of the bug killer, the mosquitoes descended upon him. bug light n. North American any of various dim or makeshift lights; spec. (a) Nautical a light positioned at sea or on land, or displayed by a vessel, which serves as a beacon, warning, alert, or guide for ships; (b) a lantern or torch; = sense 14 (now rare); (c) an electric light bulb giving a yellow glow, used in outdoor lighting, as being less attractive to flying insects than a standard bulb. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > [noun] > lamp > lantern > small bowet1440 bug light1835 bug1924 1835 O. Macy Hist. Nantucket vii. 123 The next [lighthouse] was a wooden lantern, with glass windows, which was hoisted between two spars... This was a dim light, hence it received the name of ‘bug light’. 1847 Sailor's Mag. & Naval Jrnl. 19 340/2 Daniel S. Hallet has placed a Bug Light on the bank at Hyannis harbor. 1873 Our Young Folks Sept. 542 The bug-lights were rigged out... A basket..made of hoop-iron, is filled with..inflammable material, lighted and suspended over the side. 1922 Boys' Life Sept. 1/2 I've bought a brand new bug-light just for hiking out at night. 1935 Motor Boating Jan. 53/2 A southwesterly course..will bring us abreast of Bens Point and thence WSW..to the red bug light of Long Beach Point. 1937 M. H. Jones Swords into Ploughshares iii. 29 Operating..with the lights so feeble that the nurses have to hold bug lights..so that I can see. 1968 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 17 Dec. 20/4 My husband has a tendency to underplay Christmas. He puts a yellow bug light in the porch socket and calls it decorating. 2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 10 June b5/5 Using yellow bug lights in electrical outdoor lights helps not because they repel, but because they don't attract mosquitoes like regular incandescent lights. bug proof adj. (a) immune to attack or infestation by bedbugs or other insect pests; impervious to such creatures; (b) resistant to or protected against electronic surveillance (cf. sense 15). ΚΠ 1829 Morning Post 12 Mar. 4/5 The furniture consists of four-post and metal bug-proof bedsteads and furnitures. 1922 Prairie Farmer 11 Mar. 16/2 There is no bug-proof variety of corn that has yet been found. 1964 Washington Post 15 Sept. a15/1 Horst Schwirkmann..had been assigned to uncover hidden microphones in West Germany's Moscow embassy and install a bug-proof system for the Embassy's use. 2009 D. Strickman et al. Prevention Bug Bites, Stings, & Dis. v. 100 Many bugs survive inside the vacuum cleaner..making it necessary to empty the canister or place the bag into a bug-proof plastic bag before disposal. 2016 N. Griffin Voice from Field xxxiii. 240 It's a bunker. An ultra-safe room. Built to be bug proof. bug repellent n. something, esp. a substance, which repels or keeps away insects or other bugs (sense 1). ΚΠ 1891 Daily Californian 8 Apr. The first two [plants] named seem to be the most general bug repellents. 1957 N.Y. Times Mag. 19 May ii. 37/5 A bottle of bug repellent is useful against black flies in the early part of the season. 2006 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 July f8/2 The..researcher says scientists..need more information on the safe and effective use of sunscreen and bug repellent together. bug-ridden adj. (a) plagued by or infested with bedbugs or other insect pests; (b) originally U.S. (of a machine, computer program, etc.) beset with defects or faults (cf. sense 5). ΚΠ 1848 Athenæum 29 Jan. 108/3 We passed a flea and bug ridden night. 1903 Ukiah (Calif.) Disp. Democrat 6 Mar. 5/5 We also hoped that by this time something would be done about the bug ridden orchards. 1953 A. Hosain Phoenix Fled (1988) 164 Nights of sleeping anywhere we could lie down, in rest houses, in huts, on floors, on bug-ridden cots. 1959 Stars & Stripes (European ed.) 1 July 7/4 The Atlas [intercontinental ballistic missile] currently is bug-ridden. 1994 Computer Weekly 20 Jan. 20/4 I know one small company that could not produce invoices for more than a week because of a bug-ridden printer driver. 2002 Wired Aug. 27/2 The so-called embedded systems crammed into jets, cars, and ‘smart’ appliances increasingly rely on the same bug-ridden code that corrupts PowerPoint slides. 2003 New Yorker 16 June 89/2 Georgette's father had taken them on a vacation to a bug-ridden permanent camp in the Allegheny National Forest. bug spray n. insecticide or bug repellent applied as a spray. ΚΠ 1906 Sunday Post (Boston) 8 Apr. 2/3 I'd like to know what's the use of bug-spray or Bordeaux mixture on birds like them. 1970 Boys' Life Aug. 29/3 We were invaded by flights of hungry gnats that weren't even bothered by our bug spray. 2005 New Yorker 12 Dec. 44/1 Sturdy shoes, clean socks, cellular phone, camcorder, and bug spray. bugwort n. U.S. either of two toxic American plants of the family Ranunculaceae, black bugbane ( Actaea racemosa) and Indian poke ( Veratrum viride). ΚΠ 1700 W. Salmon Aristotle's Compl. & Experienc'd Midwife ii. i. 142 Pottages good to increase the Seed, are such as are made of Beans, Pease, and Lupines..: Also Onions stewed.., fresh Bugwort roots. 1831 G. Don Gen. Syst. Gardening & Bot. I. 64/1 Fœtid Bugwort. Fl. June, July. 2003 S. J. Segal & L. Mastroianni Hormone Use Menopause & Male Andropause 54 Black cohosh is known by a variety of other names including black snakeroot, rattle weed, bugwort, and bugbane. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021). bugadj. Brit. /bʌɡ/, U.S. /bəɡ/ Forms: 1500s–1600s bugge, 1600s– bug, 1800s boog. Origin: Probably formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: bug n.¹ Etymology: Probably < bug n.¹ (see bug n.¹ 2). Compare earlier buggish adj. 1. Perhaps compare also earlier big adj., and also bog adj., budge adj. In later use English regional (chiefly Yorkshire and midlands). Pompous, haughty; proud, conceited. Also: fine, grand. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pride > pomposity > [adjective] pompousc1375 buggish1536 biga1568 bug1567 braving1600 large1608 farceda1616 budge1637 bulky1672 fastuose1674 portentous1805 highfalutin1839 heavy1849 portentious1859 ventose1867 falutin1921 pound-noteish1936 pomposo1960 stuffed-shirted1977 1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Aviij^v Bugge verses which cum to the stage With waight of wordes alone. 1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. L5^v Then gins she [sc. the moon] swell, and waxen bug with horn. 1682 H. More Annot. Lux Orientalis 55 in Two Choice & Useful Treat. A Bug and sturdy Mendicant, that pretends to be some person of Quality. 1799 S. Purkis Let. 16 Feb. in Notes & Queries (1860) 7 Apr. 261/2 ‘A poor bug fool,’ that is, a conceited blockhead. 1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words at Boog Oh! it's too boog for me! 1889 J. Nicholson Folk Speech E. Yorks. iii. 17 As bug (vain, proud, elated) as a lad wiv a leather knife. 1912 J. Malham-Dembleby Orig. Tales & Ballads Yorks. Dial. 110 To gan wiv Robin I was bug. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021). bugv.¹ Brit. /bʌɡ/, U.S. /bəɡ/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: bug n.² Etymology: < bug n.²Sense 1 probably alludes metaphorically to infestation by insects. In to bug out at Phrasal verbs perhaps after bugs adj. Compare bug v.³, which may show extended use of this word. Compare also bug v.² 1. transitive. slang. To damage or ruin; to spoil. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > damage > damage or injure [verb (transitive)] mareOE shendOE hinderc1000 amarOE awemc1275 noyc1300 touchc1300 bleche1340 blemisha1375 spill1377 misdoa1387 grieve1390 damagea1400 despoil?a1400 matea1400 snapea1400 mankc1400 overthrowa1425 tamec1430 undermine1430 blunder1440 depaira1460 adommage?1473 endamage1477 prejudicec1487 fulyie1488 martyra1500 dyscrase?1504 corrupt1526 mangle1534 danger1538 destroy1542 spoil1563 ruinate1564 ruin1567 wrake1570 injury1579 bane1587 massacre1589 ravish1594 wrong1595 rifle1604 tainta1616 mutilea1618 to do violence toa1625 flaw1665 stun1676 quail1682 maul1694 moil1698 damnify1712 margullie1721 maul1782 buga1790 mux1806 queer1818 batter1840 puckeroo1840 rim-rack1841 pretty1868 garbage1899 savage1899 to do in1905 strafe1915 mash1924 blow1943 nuke1967 mung1969 a1790 H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash Langs. (1795) Bug, to spoil. 1920 Automobile Dealer & Repairer Sept. 45/2 I can use that there, now—that shaft that—that I bugged, instead of a new forgin'. 1967 J. Rechy Numbers (1968) ix. 154 The man bugs the scene again. 2. a. transitive. Originally and chiefly U.S. To remove insect pests from (something) (chiefly a tree or plant, esp. a potato plant) by hand or using a pesticide. Also occasionally intransitive. Cf. debug v. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin from [verb (transitive)] > remove insects from bug1823 disinsectize1959 the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin [verb (intransitive)] > exterminate insects bug1869 1823 Rambler's Mag. 1 Mar. 132 To keep up the reputation of the house,..see the bedsteads bugg'd clean every summer and shift your sheets once every six weeks. 1868 Illustr. Ann. Reg. Rural Affairs 208 Hand-picking or brushing and shaking the insects into a pan or basin of water held under the vines was the only measure I could confidently recommend, and this ‘bugging the potatoes’..is much resorted to upon a small scale in the gardens. 1869 Champaign Co. (Illinois) Gaz. 26 May 2/1 If every tree in the township was ‘bugged’ daily..the destruction of this little pest would be certain. 1910 Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau Entomol. No. 82. 88 Neighbors ‘bugged’ faithfully, but the bugs ‘multiplied and replenished’. 1961 H. J. Boyle Mostly in Clover xviii. 126 Some of us..would have gone back to school gladly in order to escape the monotonous drudgery of hoeing turnips or bugging potatoes. 2011 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. (Nexis) 17 Sept. We bugged potatoes row by row. b. intransitive. To search for or collect insects or other bugs (bug n.² 1). rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > hunt specific animal [verb (intransitive)] > hunt bugs, etc. worm1575 slug1887 bug1889 1889 Cent. Dict. Bug.., to hunt for bugs. 1991 S. Hubbell in New Yorker 7 Oct. 105/1 A couple of cloth sacks containing his haul from yesterday, when he went bugging alone, lie on the trays. 3. transitive. U.S. slang. To fit with a burglar alarm. Now rare. ΚΠ 1927 Dial. Notes 5 x. 440 Bug,..to protect a safe with electric alarm devices. a1930 C. Panzram in T. E. Gaddis & J. O. Long Killer (1970) xviii. 158 To pull off a hot prowl is to turn off a trick in a private or a joint that is to be kipped or bugged; that is to rob a place where people are sleeping or that is wired. 1971 Rudder Feb. 37/3 Many large marinas..report that few if any skippers bug their boats against burglars. 4. transitive. colloquial (originally U.S.). To annoy, irritate; to bother, pester.Originally chiefly in jazz slang. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > anger > irritation > irritate [verb (transitive)] gremec893 grillc897 teenOE mispay?c1225 agrillec1275 oftenec1275 tarya1300 tarc1300 atenec1320 enchafec1374 to-tarc1384 stingc1386 chafe?a1400 pokec1400 irec1420 ertc1440 rehete1447 nettlec1450 bog1546 tickle1548 touch1581 urge1593 aggravate1598 irritate1598 dishumour1600 to wind up1602 to pick at ——1603 outhumour1607 vex1625 bloody1633 efferate1653 rankle1659 spleen1689 splenetize1700 rile1724 roil1742 to put out1796 to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823 roughen1837 acerbate1845 to stroke against the hair, the wrong way (of the hair)1846 nag1849 to rub (a person, etc.) up the wrong way1859 frump1862 rattle1865 to set up any one's bristles1873 urticate1873 needle1874 draw1876 to rough up1877 to stick pins into1879 to get on ——1880 to make (someone) tiredc1883 razoo1890 to get under a person's skin1896 to get a person's goat1905 to be on at1907 to get a person's nanny1909 cag1919 to get a person's nanny-goat1928 cagmag1932 peeve1934 tick-off1934 to get on a person's tits1945 to piss off1946 bug1947 to get up a person's nose1951 tee1955 bum1970 tick1975 1947 J. Kerouac Let. 13 Sept. in Sel. Lett. 1940–56 (1995) 126 You must start reading Balzac, incidentally, but don't let me rush you and bug you. 1949 Music Library Assoc. Notes Dec. 40/2 Bug, popularized by swing musicians and now much used by be-boppers: to be annoying. 1959 Times 31 Oct. 7/3 The heroine..inquires picturesquely of the hero ‘What's bugging you?’ and he replies, succinctly, ‘Life.’ 1967 ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp xx. 282 She was bugging me to embrace the Holy Ghost and the Fire. 1991 Locus Sept. 4/1 I want to write more humorous science fiction. People keep bugging me for another ‘Flinx’ book. 2007 Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa) 14 Aug. 7/3 Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt, and the people who know you the best are also the people who bug you the most. 5. Originally U.S. colloquial. a. (a) transitive. To listen to or record (a person or conversation) using a concealed microphone or similar means of electronic surveillance. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > hear [verb (transitive)] > listen to > eavesdrop > by microphone bug1955 spike1974 1955 Oxnard (Calif.) Press-Courier 3 May 2/5 Outlawing in court any evidence obtained through ‘bugging’ a conversation by use of a concealed microphone. 1973 Harper's Mag. Oct. 79/1 A ‘sterile’ telephone in Washington (permitting them to operate without being bugged or observed by rival spies from other government agencies). 1993 Toronto Star 9 July a25/4 A rumor was going around that the U.S. media were bugging the Canadian reporters' cell-phone conversations. 2000 Saga Mag. Feb. 86/2 He wanted to confer with members of his entourage, because he suspected he was being bugged. (b) transitive. To conceal a microphone or similar piece of electronic surveillance equipment in (a location, device, etc.); to listen to conversations taking place on (a device) using electronic surveillance. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > electronic espionage > install or use device [verb (transitive)] wire1890 wiretap1918 bug1958 Watergate1973 1958 J. D. MacDonald Executioners v. 86 We bugged both suites and that gave us some leads. 1965 C. Himes Cotton comes to Harlem xii. 117 She stood defiantly. ‘I'm not talking in this hole. You've got it bugged.’ 1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 270 The FBI pulled the rug out from under Governor Sawyer when information it had obtained by bugging the offices of certain Las Vegas casinos became public record in a tax trial. 1980 Washington Post (Nexis) 18 June a6 The conspiracy began in February 1979 (which is when Davidson has said the FBI started bugging his phone). 2015 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 8 May 16 The proposed new measures would give the intelligence services the right to gather virtually unlimited data, checking emails and bugging rooms, cars or objects. b. intransitive. To use a concealed microphone or similar means of electronic surveillance to listen to or record a person or conversation. ΚΠ 1961 Calif. Law Rev. 49 482 Eavesdropping and ‘bugging’ by electronic detecting and amplifying devices would seem to represent the ultimate invasion of privacy. 1969 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 386 184/2 The agency has bugged and wiretapped with a zeal exceeding the spirit, if not the letter of our laws. 1974 P. R. Clancy Just Country Lawyer i. 10 Thou shalt not bug without a court order. 1999 Observer (Nexis) 18 July 33 All Customs investigators needed to do was get written permission to bug in advance from their superiors and the managers of the hotels. Phrasal verbs to bug out slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). a. intransitive. To think or behave in an irrational, uncontrolled, strange, or erratic way; to panic or become hysterical. Also without out.In quot. 1939 (transitive) to bug one's way out (of something): to act as if insane in order to avoid something unpleasant or inconvenient. ΚΠ 1939 R. Chandler in Dime Detective Mag. Aug. 60/2 He could bug his way outa raps... Totes a gun and acts simple. 1961 F. J. Rigney & L. D. Smith Real Bohemia p. xiii Bug out.., to become psychotic. 1987 C. Hilberry Luke Karamazov xi. 120 I started bugging out. I could feel myself going. You know, I'm losing grip on it. 1992 T. Williams Crackhouse xi. 77 He's on the floor in my closet, and I have no idea what he's looking for and he doesn't either... This is what we call ‘the bug-out’—we say ‘he's bugging’. 2013 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 19 June 5 I knew they [sc. the police] had my phone and I was bugging out... I had a bad feeling. b. transitive. To disturb or unsettle (someone). Also: to annoy, bother, or irritate (cf. sense 4). ΚΠ 1970 J. Bouton Ball Four v. 156 Curt said I had bugged out at least half the coaching staff. 1986 New Musical Express 29 Mar. 19/1 You're looking at me. You're bugging me out, man. 1993 R. Shell iCED 109 I just couldn't find my shit and it was bugging me out. 2002 Amer. Theatre (Electronic ed.) Dec. 17 In other words, close collaborations don't bug her out. 2011 G. L. Heyward Corruption Officer (2015) 146 What's bugging me out is why neither of them is stepping up. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021). bugv.² Brit. /bʌɡ/, U.S. /bəɡ/ Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps formed within English, by conversion. Or perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: bug n.¹; bug n.²; bulge v. Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps (i) < bug n.¹, or perhaps (ii) < bug n.² (compare bug-eyed adj.), or perhaps (iii) a variant or alteration of bulge v. (compare bulge v. II.). Perhaps compare earlier bag v.¹, boggle v. U.S. colloquial. 1. transitive. To cause (the eyes) to open wide or bulge outwards, esp. in astonishment or fear. Chiefly with out. Now somewhat rare. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [verb (transitive)] > by size, shape, etc. sparkle1601 stain1831 wrinkle1841 bug1865 scrouge1909 scrooch1929 1865 J. S. Jackman Diary Confederate Soldier 14 Feb. (1990) viii. 160 He had hardly gotten through with his tale, when a negro came riding up full speed, his white eyes ‘bugged’ out. 1875 St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat 15 Aug. 3/6 What though the rain came down in torrents, that would have bugged out old flat boatman Noah's eyes with astonishment? 1877 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly 40 446 His dead-lights were bugged out like tompions; and his mouth stood..wide open. 1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. 225 They was..buggin' their eyes at him. 1986 M. Howard Expensive Habits 199 Mistah Film Macher, buggin' his eyes out like old Orson Welles. 1993 D. Coyle Hardball iv. iii. 166 The big kid bugged out his eyes and propped his elbow on his friend's skinny shoulder. 2. intransitive. Of the eyes: to open wide or bulge outwards, esp. in astonishment or fear. Chiefly with out. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > eye > [verb (intransitive)] > by size, shape, etc. starta1393 sparkle1594 startle1600 settle1615 pop1680 fever1820 largen1844 bug1868 1868 Overland Monthly Sept. 260/2 Your eyes bug out as though you seen a ghost. 1883 ‘M. Twain’ Life on Mississippi xxxvi. 391 Would n't their eyes bug out, to see 'em handled like that? 1902 O. Wister Virginian xxxii. 408 Can't you tell a man what's making your eyes bug out so? 1989 Weekly World News 21 Nov. 40/5 The much bigger pit bull..went scurrying away, its eyes bugging in terror and its tail tucked between its legs. 2010 Billboard 3 Apr. 22/3 To the hardcore fans, I hope their eyes bug out when they hear these. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021). bugv.³ Brit. /bʌɡ/, U.S. /bəɡ/ Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: bug v.¹ Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps an extended use of bug v.¹ (compare to bug out at bug v.¹ Phrasal verbs), perhaps with allusion to the erratic behaviour of people fleeing in panic (compare also bug n.² 7, bugs adj.). Compare bug-out n.This word appears originally to have arisen among U.S. military forces during the Korean War (1950–3). In later use in to bug off in sense 2 (especially in British sources) perhaps reinforced by association with to bugger off at bugger v. Phrasal verbs 1. colloquial (chiefly North American) (originally U.S. Military slang). 1. intransitive. Frequently with out. a. To run away, flee; to retreat hurriedly. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily fleec825 runOE swervea1225 biwevec1275 skip1338 streekc1380 warpa1400 yerna1400 smoltc1400 stepc1460 to flee (one's) touch?1515 skirr1548 rubc1550 to make awaya1566 lope1575 scuddle1577 scoura1592 to take the start1600 to walk off1604 to break awaya1616 to make off1652 to fly off1667 scuttle1681 whew1684 scamper1687 whistle off1689 brush1699 to buy a brush1699 to take (its, etc.) wing1704 decamp1751 to take (a) French leave1751 morris1765 to rush off1794 to hop the twig1797 to run along1803 scoot1805 to take off1815 speela1818 to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 absquatulize1829 mosey1829 absquatulate1830 put1834 streak1834 vamoose1834 to put out1835 cut1836 stump it1841 scratch1843 scarper1846 to vamoose the ranch1847 hook1851 shoo1851 slide1859 to cut and run1861 get1861 skedaddle1862 bolt1864 cheese it1866 to do a bunkc1870 to wake snakes1872 bunk1877 nit1882 to pull one's freight1884 fooster1892 to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892 smoke1893 mooch1899 to fly the coop1901 skyhoot1901 shemozzle1902 to light a shuck1905 to beat it1906 pooter1907 to take a run-out powder1909 blow1912 to buzz off1914 to hop it1914 skate1915 beetle1919 scram1928 amscray1931 boogie1940 skidoo1949 bug1950 do a flit1952 to do a scarper1958 to hit, split or take the breeze1959 to do a runner1980 to be (also get, go) ghost1986 society > travel > aspects of travel > departure, leaving, or going away > depart, leave, or go away [verb (intransitive)] > hastily or suddenly fleec825 warpa1400 wringc1400 bolt1575 decamp1751 mog1770 to hop the twig1797 to take (its, etc.) wing1806 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 vamoose1834 fade1848 skedaddle1862 to beat it1906 blow1912 to hop it1914 beetle1919 bug1950 jet1951 1950 Life 18 Dec. 28/1 When we bug out of here I don't want to have to run in nothing but pajamas. 1968 N. Cruz & J. Buckingham Run Baby Run viii. 148 Let's run. Let's take this money and bug out of here. 1971 J. N. Rowe Five Years to Freedom ix. 409 Grab your stuff and bug! 1978 J. Wambaugh Black Marble xiv. 324 A guy with lots of debts bugs out. 1988 S. Paretsky Toxic Shock (1990) xx. 152 I got a threatening phone call tonight telling me to bug out of South Chicago. 2015 K. Cole Dead of Winter xiii. 76 ‘There are spies everywhere.’ He exhaled a long breath. ‘Or, there were. They bugged out, running north.’ b. To lose one's nerve and decide not to do something; to back out. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > fear > nervousness or uneasiness > be nervous or uneasy [verb (intransitive)] > lose one's nerve to lose one's nerve1912 bug1952 to lose one's bottle1958 bottle1977 to bottle it1988 the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > abstain or refrain from action [verb (intransitive)] > avoid > turn aside from a course of action > back out resile1529 to back out1807 duff1883 duck1896 punk1920 squib1938 bug1952 weasel1956 to wuss out1976 1952 P. Frank Hold back Night vii. 113 It is a terrible thing for a captain to discover that one of his lieutenants has bugged out, although Ekland..had known that Sellers was yellow. 1960 J. A. Williams Angry Ones i. 12 I wasn't alone, but I bugged, and that was something I couldn't tell the folks; there aren't any cowards in our family. 1969 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 21 Oct. 1/7 He also said that Canada is not ‘bugging out’ of NATO. 1977 Time 31 Jan. 11/2 With pen poised over paper, the actress bugged out. ‘No, I just can't,’ she confessed. 2005 N.Y. Mag. 16 May 37/3 She got engaged to a blond rower. But the relationship fractured..and she bugged out on business school. 2. intransitive. With off. a. To go away, leave; to flee. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] wendeOE i-wite971 ashakec975 shakeOE to go awayOE witea1000 afareOE agoOE atwendOE awayOE to wend awayOE awendOE gangOE rimeOE flitc1175 to fare forthc1200 depart?c1225 part?c1225 partc1230 to-partc1275 biwitec1300 atwitea1325 withdrawa1325 to draw awayc1330 passc1330 to turn one's (also the) backc1330 lenda1350 begonec1370 remuea1375 voidc1374 removec1380 to long awaya1382 twinc1386 to pass one's wayc1390 trussc1390 waive1390 to pass out ofa1398 avoida1400 to pass awaya1400 to turn awaya1400 slakec1400 wagc1400 returnc1405 to be gonea1425 muck1429 packc1450 recede1450 roomc1450 to show (a person) the feetc1450 to come offc1475 to take one's licence1475 issue1484 devoidc1485 rebatea1500 walka1500 to go adieua1522 pikea1529 to go one's ways1530 retire?1543 avaunt1549 to make out1558 trudge1562 vade?1570 fly1581 leave1593 wag1594 to get off1595 to go off1600 to put off1600 shog1600 troop1600 to forsake patch1602 exit1607 hence1614 to give offa1616 to take off1657 to move off1692 to cut (also slip) the painter1699 sheera1704 to go about one's business1749 mizzle1772 to move out1792 transit1797–1803 stump it1803 to run away1809 quit1811 to clear off1816 to clear out1816 nash1819 fuff1822 to make (take) tracks (for)1824 mosey1829 slope1830 to tail out1830 to walk one's chalks1835 to take away1838 shove1844 trot1847 fade1848 evacuate1849 shag1851 to get up and get1854 to pull out1855 to cut (the) cable(s)1859 to light out1859 to pick up1872 to sling one's Daniel or hook1873 to sling (also take) one's hook1874 smoke1893 screw1896 shoot1897 voetsak1897 to tootle off1902 to ship out1908 to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909 to push off1918 to bugger off1922 biff1923 to fuck off1929 to hit, split or take the breeze1931 to jack off1931 to piss offa1935 to do a mick1937 to take a walk1937 to head off1941 to take a hike1944 moulder1945 to chuff off1947 to get lost1947 to shoot through1947 skidoo1949 to sod off1950 peel1951 bug1952 split1954 poop1961 mugger1962 frig1965 1952 B. Mauldin Bill Mauldin in Korea iv. 94 Five North Koreans came right up to the wire... They bugged off down that gulley and we lost them. 1967 H. S. Thompson Hell's Angels ix. 107 Here were all these weekend mountaineers, solid nine-to-five types with a yen to cut loose, bugging off for distant campsites. 1979 P. Anthony Source of Magic i. 3 Bugging off to the party to have a good time while I suffer home alone, chewing on the walls. 1983 J. Wilcox Mod. Baptists (1984) xxxiii. 227 I'm telling you to bug off. I'm tired of your advice, hear? 2011 J. Rush Due Diligence viii. 39 It's full of mistakes. Sammy, I want them fixing this stuff. I don't want you guys bugging off. b. In imperative. Expressing dismissal, hostility, or desire to be rid of the person addressed; ‘go away’, ‘get lost’. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)] scud1602 go scrape!1611 to push off (also along)1740 to go it1797 to walk one's chalks1835 morris1838 scat1838 go 'long1859 to take a walk1881 shoot1897 skidoo1905 to beat it1906 to go to the dickens1910 to jump (or go (and) jump) in the lake1912 scram1928 to piss offa1935 to bugger off1937 to fuck off1940 go and have a roll1941 eff1945 to feck off?1945 to get lost1947 to sod off1950 bug1956 to hit, split or take the breeze1959 naff1959 frig1965 muck1974 to rack off1975 1956 C. Fitzgibbon tr. K. Opitz General 107 Nice crowd this, I thought, stealing the shirts off their countrymen's backs... At Hamburg Central they were there again. They were more sympathetic, though. ‘Bug off out of it’, they said in their friendly fashion. 1960 H. Gold in Playboy Sept. 121/1 Those uptown bankrollers who used to say ‘nix’ to the avant-garde have now learned to say ‘Bug off, Buster’. 2008 Philadelphia Daily News (Nexis) 6 Feb. 53 I'm a serious music lover.., off in my own world, doing my thing. So just bug off, OK? This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.¹a1425n.²1594adj.1567v.¹a1790v.²1865v.³1950
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bugn.1

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bugn.2

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bugadj.

bugv.1

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bugv.2

bugv.3

bugn.¹

bugn.²

bugv.¹

bugv.²

bugv.³