Informal. any microorganism, especially a virus: He was laid up for a week by an intestinal bug.
Informal. a defect or imperfection, as in a mechanical device, computer program, or plan; glitch: The test flight discovered the bugs in the new plane.
Informal.
a person who has a great enthusiasm for something; fan or hobbyist: a hi-fi bug.
a craze or obsession: He's got the sports-car bug.
Informal.
a hidden microphone or other electronic eavesdropping device.
any of various small mechanical or electrical gadgets, as one to influence a gambling device, give warning of an intruder, or indicate location.
a mark, as an asterisk, that indicates a particular item, level, etc.
Horse Racing. the five-pound weight allowance that can be claimed by an apprentice jockey.
a telegraph key that automatically transmits a series of dots when moved to one side and one dash when moved to the other.
PokerSlang. a joker that can be used only as an ace or as a wild card to fill a straight or a flush.
Printing. a label printed on certain matter to indicate that it was produced by a union shop.
any of various fishing plugs resembling an insect.
Chiefly British. a bedbug.
verb (used with object),bugged,bug·ging.Informal.
to install a secret listening device in (a room, building, etc.) or on (a telephone or other device): The phone had been bugged.
to bother; annoy; pester: She's bugging him to get her into show business.
Verb Phrases
bug off, Slang. to leave or depart, especially rapidly: I can't help you, so bug off.
bug out, Slang. to flee in panic; show panic or alarm.
Idioms
put a bug in someone's ear, to give someone a subtle suggestion; hint: We put a bug in his ear about a new gymnasium.
Origin of bug
1
1615–25;1885–90for def 4; 1910–15for def 5a; 1915–20for def 14; 1945–50for def 15; earlier bugge beetle, apparently alteration of Middle Englishbudde,Old English-budda beetle; sense “leave” obscurely related to other senses and perhaps of distinct orig.
Also called Western Bug. a river in E central Europe, rising in W Ukraine and forming part of the boundary between Poland and Ukraine, flowing NW to the Vistula River in Poland. 450 miles (725 km) long.
Also called Southern Bug. a river in SW Ukraine flowing SE to the Dnieper estuary. About 530 miles (850 km) long.
any insect of the order Hemiptera, esp any of the suborder Heteroptera, having piercing and sucking mouthparts specialized as a beak (rostrum)See also assassin bug, bedbug, chinch bug
mainlyUS and Canadianany insect, such as the June bug or the Croton bug
informal
a microorganism, esp a bacterium, that produces disease
a disease, esp a stomach infection, caused by a microorganism
informalan obsessive idea, hobby, etc; craze (esp in the phrases get the bug, be bitten by the bug, the bug bites, etc)
informala person having such a craze; enthusiast
(often plural)informalan error or fault, as in a machine or system, esp in a computer or computer program
informala concealed microphone used for recording conversations, as in spying
US(in poker) a joker used as an ace or wild card to complete a straight or flush
Also called: Southern Buga river in E Europe, rising in W Ukraine and flowing southeast to the Dnieper estuary and the Black Sea. Length: 853 km (530 miles)
Also called: Western Buga river in E Europe, rising in SW Ukraine and flowing northwest to the River Vistula in Poland, forming part of the border between Poland and Ukraine. Length: 724 km (450 miles)
"insect," 1620s (earliest reference is to bedbugs), of unknown origin, probably but not certainly from or influenced by Middle English bugge "something frightening, scarecrow" (late 14c.), a meaning obsolete since the "insect" sense arose except in bugbear (1570s) and bugaboo (q.v.).
Probably connected with Scottish bogill "goblin, bugbear," or obsolete Welsh bwg "ghost, goblin" (cf. Welsh bwgwl "threat," earlier "fear," Middle Irish bocanách "supernatural being"). Some speculate that these words are from a root meaning "goat" (see buck (n.1)) and represent originally a goat-like spectre. Cf. also bogey (n.1) and German bögge, böggel-mann "goblin." Perhaps influenced in meaning by Old English -budda used in compounds for "beetle" (cf. Low German budde "louse, grub," Middle Low German buddech "thick, swollen").
In the United States bug is not confined, as in England, to the domestic pest, but is applied to all insects of the Coleoptera order, which includes what in this country are generally called beetles. [Farmer & Henley, "Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English," 1912 abridged edition]
Meaning "defect in a machine" (1889) may have been coined c.1878 by Thomas Edison (perhaps with the notion of an insect getting into the works). Meaning "person obsessed by an idea" (e.g. firebug) is from 1841, perhaps from notion of persistence. Sense of "microbe, germ" is from 1919. Bugs "crazy" is from c.1900. Bug juice as a slang name for drink is from 1869, originally "bad whiskey." The 1811 slang dictionary has bug-hunter "an upholsterer." Bug-word "word or words meant to irritate and vex" is from 1560s.
v.1
"to bulge, protrude," 1872, originally of eyes, perhaps from a humorous or dialect mispronunciation of bulge (v.). Related: Bugged; bugging. As an adjective, bug-eyed recorded from 1872; so commonly used of space creatures in mid-20c. science fiction that the initialism BEM for bug-eyed monster was current by 1953.
v.2
"to annoy, irritate," 1949, probably from bug (n.) and a reference to insect pests. Sense of "equip with a concealed microphone" is from 1919. Related: Bugged; bugging.
v.3
"to scram, skedaddle," 1953, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to bug (v.2), and cf. bug off.
An insect belonging to the suborder Heteroptera. See more at true bug.
An insect, spider, or similar organism. Not in scientific use.
Usage: The word bug is often used to refer to tiny creatures that crawl along, such as insects and even small animals that are not insects, such as spiders and millipedes. But for scientists the word has a much narrower meaning. In the strictest terms bugs are those insects that have mouthparts adapted for piercing and sucking. The mouthparts of these bugs are contained in a beak-shaped structure. Thus scientists would classify a louse but not a beetle or a cockroach as a bug. In fact, scientists often call lice and their relatives true bugs to distinguish them better from what everyone else calls bugs.
A generic term that describes a malfunction of undetermined origin in a computer or other electronic device.
Note
The term originated in the 1940s when the examination of a large computer revealed that an actual insect had landed on one of the circuits, shorting it out and shutting the machine down.
