rug
English
Etymology
Uncertain; probably of North Germanic origin; perhaps inherited via Middle English *rugge (suggested by Middle English ruggy (“hairy, shaggy, bristly”) and rugged (“hairy, shaggy, rugged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“shagginess, tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”), related to English rag and rough. Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rugga (“coarse coverlet”), Swedish rugg (“rough entangled hair”), related to English rag and rough. Compare also Old English rȳhe (“rug, rough covering, blanket”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: rŭg, IPA(key): /ɹʌɡ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌɡ
Noun
rug (plural rugs)
- A partial covering for a floor. [1624]
- (UK, Australia) A (usually thick) piece of fabric used for warmth (especially on a bed); a blanket. [1591]
- 1855, William Howitt, A Boy′s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia: or, Herbert′s Note-Book, page 254:
- They then cut down a quantity of gum-tree leaves for a bed, and threw their rugs upon them ready for bed-time.
- 1906 July 27, Government Gazette of Western Australia, page 2297:
- Furnish every sleeping apartment with a sufficient number of toilet utensils and bedsteads, and sufficient bedding so that each bed shall be provided with a mattress, two sheets, a rug, and, in winter time, not less than one additional rug.
- 1950 April, Dental Journal of Australia, Volume 22, page 181,
- My own son had a bunny rug of which he was very fond and on being put to bed he would always demand his “bunny rug to suck his finger with.″
- 1958, Arthur Hailey, John Castle. Runway Zero-Eight. Bantham Books
- She tucked in a rug round the woman. “How’s that?” The woman nodded gratefully.
- 1997, Alan Sharpe, Vivien Encel, Murder!: 25 True Australian Crimes, page 22:
- He brought with him a rug and a sheet, and lay down by the fire.
- (historical, now rare) A kind of coarse, heavy frieze, formerly used for clothing. [1547]
- 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Irelande […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC:
- They spin the choicest rug in Ireland. A friend of mine […] repaired to Paris Garden clad in one of these Waterford rugs.
- (historical, now rare) A cloak or mantle made of such a frieze. [1577]
- (obsolete, rare) A person wearing a rug. [1627]
- A cloth covering for a horse. [1790]
- (obsolete, rare) A dense layer of natural vegetation that precludes the growth of crops. [1792]
- (slang) The female pubic hair. [1893]
- A rough, woolly, or shaggy dog.
- (slang) A wig; a hairpiece. [1940]
- (colloquial) A dense growth of chest hair. [1954]
- (US, slang, ethnic slur) Short for rughead.
- 1980, John Irwin, Prisons in Turmoil, page 212:
- We're the motherfuckers be fightin' when the rugs [black prisoners] start wasting people around here.
Usage notes
- (partial floor covering): The terms rug and carpet are not precise synonyms: a rug covers part of the floor; a carpet covers most or a large area of the floor; a fitted carpet runs wall-to-wall.
Derived terms
- area rug
- brush something under the rug
- cut a rug
- cute as a bug in a rug
- cut the rug
- drug rug
- lie like a cheap rug
- lie like a rug
- Nain rug
- oriental rug
- Oriental rug
- prayer rug
- pull the rug
- pull the rug out from under
- rag rug
- rug-headed
- rug joint
- rug monkey
- rug muncher
- rug pilot
- rug-pull
- rug pull
- rug ranking
- rug rat
- rug rider
- scatter rug
- snug as a bug in a rug
- sweep something under the rug
- throw rug
- under the rug
Translations
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Verb
rug (third-person singular simple present rugs, present participle rugging, simple past and past participle rugged)
- (transitive) To cover with a rug.
- 1966, Margaret I. Clarke, Care of the Horse and Pony, page 45:
- It stands to reason that because of the difference in climate the necessity for rugging a horse in Australia would vary considerably from that in cold countries like England […]
- (Scotland, archaic) To pull roughly or hastily; to plunder; to spoil; to tear.
- 1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
- “this was a job in the auld times o'rugging and riving through the hale country […] ”
Derived terms
Adjective
rug (comparative more rug, superlative most rug)
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “rug”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Further reading
- “rug”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “rug”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “rug”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Afrikaans
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /rœχ/
audio (file)
Aromanian
Synonyms
- pilivuri, zigrã, mãcesh, bubzel
Danish
Etymology
From Old Danish rugh, from Old Norse rugr, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wrugʰyo-. Compare Norwegian Bokmål rug, Swedish råg, Icelandic rúgur, Dutch rogge, Low German Rogg, German Roggen, English rye.
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch rugge, from Old Dutch ruggi, from Proto-Germanic *hrugjaz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /rʏx/
audio (file) - Hyphenation: rug
- Rhymes: -ʏx
Noun
Derived terms
Faroese
Irish
References
- Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 101
Manx
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Old Norse rugr, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wrugʰyo-. Compare Danish rug, Swedish råg, Icelandic rúgur, Dutch rogge, German Roggen, English rye.
Derived terms
References
- “rug” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Old Norse rugr, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wrugʰyo-. Cognate with Faroese rugur, Icelandic rúgur, Swedish råg, Danish rug, Dutch rogge, German Roggen, and English rye.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /rʊː(ɡ)/, /rʉː(ɡ)/
- (North Gudbrand Valley) IPA(key): [ruɡ]
- Hyphenation: rùg
Derived terms
References
- “rug” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Polish
Declension
Etymology 2
Inherited from Old Polish rug.
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Further reading
- rug in Polish dictionaries at PWN
- Brückner, Aleksander (1927) “rug”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish), Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna
Romagnol
References
Masotti, Adelmo (1996) Vocabolario Romagnolo Italiano [Romagnol-Italian dictionary] (in Italian), Bologna: Zanichelli, page 514
Romanian
Etymology 1
From Latin rogus, probably borrowed in the 19th century or semi-learned. The linguists Candrea and Tiktin believed it to be inherited.
Declension
Etymology 2
Inherited from Latin rubus (“bramble, briar”), from Proto-Italic *wruðos, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰo- (“sweetbriar”). Compare Italian rovo, dialectal rogo. For the sound shift of Latin -b- to -g- in Romanian, compare neg, negură.
Declension
Synonyms
Derived terms
References
- rug in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)