an act of robbery with violence, esp in the street
Bank robberies, burglaries, and muggings are reported daily in the press.
Mugging, even in broad daylight, was not uncommon.
We usually think of a victim of mugging as being someone elderly.
mugging in American English
(ˈmʌɡɪŋ)
noun
an assault or threat of violence upon a person, esp. with intent to rob
Word origin
[1840–50; mug + -ing1]This word is first recorded in the period 1840–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: layout, plaque, sensationalism, striation, warmup-ing is a suffix of nouns formed from verbs, expressing the action of the verb or itsresult, product, material, etc. (the art of building; a new building; cotton wadding). It is also used to form nouns from words other than verbs (offing; shirting). Verbal nouns ending in -ing are often used attributively (the printing trade) and in forming compounds (drinking song). In some compounds (sewing machine), the first element might reasonably be regarded as the participial adjective, -ing, the compound thus meaning “a machine that sews,” but it is commonly taken as a verbalnoun, the compound being explained as “a machine for sewing”
In other languages
mugging
British English: mugging /ˈmʌɡɪŋ/ NOUN
A mugging is an attack on somebody in order to steal their money.
Muggings are unusual in this area.
American English: mugging
Arabic: هُجُومٌ لِلْسَرِقَةِ
Brazilian Portuguese: assalto
Chinese: 抢劫
Croatian: napad s pljačkom
Czech: loupežné přepadení
Danish: overfald
Dutch: straatroof
European Spanish: atraco personas
Finnish: pahoinpitely
French: agression
German: Raubüberfall
Greek: ληστεία
Italian: aggressione
Japanese: 強奪
Korean: 강도 행위
Norwegian: ran
Polish: napad uliczny
European Portuguese: assalto
Romanian: jaf
Russian: ограбление
Latin American Spanish: atraco
Swedish: rånöverfall
Thai: การทำร้ายเพื่อปล้นทรัพย์
Turkish: kapkaççılık
Ukrainian: напад з метою забрати гроші
Vietnamese: hành động cướp
Chinese translation of 'mugging'
mugging
(ˈmʌɡɪŋ)
n(c/u)
(= assault) 行凶抢(搶)劫 (xíngxiōng qiǎngjié) (次, cì)
mug
(mʌɡ)
n(c)
(= large cup)
(for drinks) 大杯子 (dà beīzi) (个(個), gè)
(for beer) 啤酒杯 (píjiǔ bēi) (个(個), gè)
(= contents) 一大杯的量 (yī dàbēi de liàng)
(inf, = face) 脸(臉) (liǎn)
(Brit, inf, = fool) 傻瓜 (shǎguā)
vt
(= rob) 行凶抢(搶)劫 (xíngxiōng qiǎngjié)
it's a mug's game (Brit, inf) 这(這)是桩(樁)无(無)利可图(圖)的事 (Zhè shì zhuāng wú lì kě tú de shì)