buggingn.
/ˈbʌɡɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈbəɡɪŋ/ 1.
a. The action or practice of searching for or collecting insects or other bugs (bug n.2 1), esp. as entomological specimens.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > hobby > collecting other articles > [noun]
shelling1861
bugging1862
oology1869
bibliophily1877
antiquing1916
cartophily1936
deltiology1947
phillumeny1951
tegestology1960
notaphily1970
scripophily1978
1862 C. Darwin Let. 31 May in Corr. (1997) X. 231 George is hard at bugging.
1909 Treasury May 129/2 ‘Egging’ is more suited to the busy man or boy than ‘bugging’.
1991 S. Hubbell in New Yorker 7 Oct. 104/3 Mike..firmly corrected me on the use of the term ‘picking’ in reference to the harvest [of ladybirds]. ‘We call it bugging.’
2004 C. G. Gould Remarkable Life William Beebe ii. 23 Warrie remained Will's closest friend and they continued to go ‘bugging’ and ‘fossiling’ together.
b. Originally and chiefly U.S. The action or process of removing insect pests from a tree or plant, esp. a potato plant, by hand or using a pesticide.
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1875 Amer. Farmer Jan. 7/2 There is four times the labor expended in planting, cultivating and ‘bugging’.
1885 T. B. Terry ABC of Potato Culture xii. 28/1 I told him I would pay him five cents an hour for all the time he put in at bugging that year.
1919 Industr. Enterprise Aug. 14/2 Mr. Hewett arrived late in the season just when we needed him, for the potatoes needed bugging very bad.
2006 E. E. Nichols Nova Scotia Memories 222 After an hour of bugging, she set before me a huge dish of greens.
2. Originally U.S. colloquial. The action or practice of using a concealed microphone or similar means of electronic surveillance to listen to or record a person or conversation.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > [noun] > listening > eavesdropping > by microphone
bugging1955
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > electronic espionage > [noun] > of telephones, etc.
wiretapping1878
listening-in1927
bugging1955
1955 Newsweek 24 Oct. 32/1 ‘I'll guarantee you that you're not going to do any more bugging!’.. Kalven's group had hidden microphones in Wichita, Kans., district court jury rooms and recorded the jurors' traditionally secret deliberations.
1975 Times 12 June 18/5 The most extreme form of surveillance in America is known as ‘special coverage’ and includes everything from bugging to reviews of the victim's tax returns.
1978 Washington Post (Nexis) 27 June e1 The current law does not make..any independent provider of telecommunications services an active participant in bugging.
2011 Independent 15 July (Viewspaper section) 3/1 Mobile phone bugging is no longer a thing of the movies.
Compounds
General attributive (in sense 2), as bugging device, bugging equipment, bugging operation, etc.
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1955 N.Y. Times 14 Oct. 14/3 Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. and Assistant Attorney Gen. Warren E. Burger sharply criticized the ‘bugging’ incident in separate speeches.
1962 Pop. Mech. Nov. 74/3 (advt.) Investigative equipment, bugging devices.
1973 Times 9 Feb. 8/3 The most detailed public inquiry into the bugging scandal.
1989 Financial Times 5 June 9 The bugging accusations were made by Mr Leonid Zamyatin, the Soviet ambassador to London.
2000 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Apr. 957/2 Police obtained the only evidence they had against him through an illegal bugging operation.
2014 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 4 May 6 During a covert operation codenamed Blackjack, the Metropolitan Police placed bugging equipment in a car showroom.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1862