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tug

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tug¹

  • /ˈtʌɡ/ US, UK, Scotland
  • [ˈtʰʌɡ] US, UK, Scotland
  • /ˈtɐɡ/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈtʰɐ̞ɡ] Australia, New Zealand
  • /ˈtəɡ/ Wales
  • [ˈtʰəɡ] Wales
  • /ˈtʊɡ/ Ireland, Northern England
  • [ˈtʰʊɡ] Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌɡ

Where it comes from

From Middle English tuggen, from Old English togian (“to tow”), from Proto-West Germanic *togōn, from Proto-Germanic *tugōną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull; to lead”).

Cognates

Cognate with German zögern (“to hesitate, pause”), Faroese and Icelandic toga (“to pull”), French touer (“to tow, tug a ship”); also Welsh dwyn (“to steal; to take; to bring to”), Latin dūcō (“to conduct, guide, lead; to take; to draw, pull; to consider, think; to prolong; to march; to forge”), Ancient Greek δαδύσσομαι (dadússomai, “to be distracted”), Albanian nduk (“to pluck out, pull out, tear”), Central Kurdish دۆشین (doşîn, “to milk”), Northern Kurdish dotin, doşîn, دۆشین (doşîn, “to milk”), Ossetian ду́цын (dúcyn, “to milk”), Pashto لوشل (lwašal, “to milk; to extort”), Persian دوشیدن (dōšīdan / dušidan), دوشتن (duštan), دوختن (dōxtan / duxtan, “to milk”). Related to tow.

verb tugs · tugging · tugged

  1. transitive To pull or drag with great effort. The police officers tugged the drunkard out of the pub.
  2. transitive To pull hard repeatedly. He lost his patience trying to undo his shoe-lace, but tugging it made the knot even tighter.
  3. transitive To tow by tugboat.
  4. ambitransitive, slang To masturbate.

noun tugs

  1. A sudden powerful pull. At the tug he falls, / Vast ruins come along, rent from the smoking walls.
  2. A tugboat. Shipping of every sort, from passenger liners to ferry steamers, tramps to tugs and trailing barges, feluccas to speedboats and yachts, from warships to caiques, chugs, hoots, glides or churns its way in all directions.
  3. A type of tractor used for moving trailers. Trailers are delivered by road to Poole, Portsmouth, or Rosslare in Ireland. They are then loaded onto ferries by dockyard tractors called "tugs". After crossing the Channel, the driverless loads are disembarked by tug and taken to the specially constructed freight terminal in Cherbourg port. Each r
  4. obsolete A kind of vehicle used for conveying timber and heavy articles. Cattiwi came down the steep lane with his five-horse timber-tug
  5. A trace, or drawing strap, of a harness.
  6. A dog toy consisting of a rope, often with a knot in it.
  7. An iron hook of a hoisting tub, to which a tackle is affixed.
  8. slang An act of male masturbation. He had a quick tug to calm himself down before his date.

tug²

  • /ˈtʌɡ/ US, UK, Scotland
  • [ˈtʰʌɡ] US, UK, Scotland
  • /ˈtɐɡ/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [ˈtʰɐ̞ɡ] Australia, New Zealand
  • /ˈtəɡ/ Wales
  • [ˈtʰəɡ] Wales
  • /ˈtʊɡ/ Ireland, Northern England
  • [ˈtʰʊɡ] Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌɡ

Where it comes from

Related to toga.

noun tugs

  1. UK, slang A foundationer or colleger at Eton.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: lug, push, jerk, labour, tote, drive, labor, towboat, tugboat, pull, yank, pushing, haul, shoot, bow, gravity

Translations

Every language

verb to pull with great effort

Españoltirar, halar, jalar
Françaistirer
Deutschzerren
Italianotrascinare
Românătrage, smuci
Русскийтяну́ть tjanútʹ, потяну́ть potjanútʹ, тащи́ть taščítʹ, потащи́ть potaščítʹ

verb to pull repeatedly

Españoltironear, jalonear
Françaistirer
Deutschzerren
Italianotirare
Русскийдёргать djórgatʹ, дёрнуть djórnutʹ

verb to tow by tugboat

Españolremolcar
Portuguêsrebocar
Françaisremorquer
Deutschschleppen
Italianorimorchiare
Русскийбукси́ровать buksírovatʹ, отбукси́ровать otbuksírovatʹ

noun sudden pull

Españoljalón, halón, jalada
Françaistirement
DeutschRuck
Italianostrattone
Русскийрыво́к ryvók

noun dog toy

Françaistug
DeutschZerrspielzeug

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"tug." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tug. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tug. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tug

Chicago

"tug." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tug.

BibTeX
@misc{tug_2026,
  title = {tug},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tug},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}