mug
Americannoun
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mugs
plural
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a drinking cup, usually cylindrical in shape, having a handle, and often of a heavy substance, as earthenware.
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the quantity it holds.
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Slang.
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the face.
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the mouth.
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an exaggerated facial expression; grimace, as in acting.
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a thug, ruffian, or other criminal.
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British Slang. a gullible person; dupe; fool.
verb (used with object)
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mugs,
present (3rd person singular)
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mugged,
past participle, past
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mugging
present participle
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to assault or menace, especially with the intention of robbery.
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Slang. to photograph (a person), especially in compliance with an official or legal requirement.
verb (used without object)
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mugs,
present (3rd person singular)
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mugged,
past participle, past
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mugging
present participle
noun
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slang a person's face or mouth
get your ugly mug out of here!
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slang a grimace
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slang a gullible person, esp one who is swindled easily
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a worthless activity
verb
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informal (tr) to attack or rob (someone) violently
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slang (intr) to pull faces or overact, esp in front of a camera
noun
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a drinking vessel with a handle, usually cylindrical and made of earthenware
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Also called: mugful. the quantity held by a mug or its contents
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mugsimple
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mugssimple
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have muggedperfect
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has muggedperfect
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am muggingprogressive
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are muggingprogressive
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is muggingprogressive
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have been muggingperfect progressive
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has been muggingperfect progressive
Past
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muggedsimple
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had muggedperfect
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was muggingprogressive
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were muggingprogressive
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had been muggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mug
First recorded in 1560–70; probably from Scandinavian; compare Swedish mugg, Norwegian, Danish mugge “drinking cup”; sense “face” apparently transferred from cups adorned with grotesque faces; sense “to assault” from earlier pugilistic slang “to strike in the face, fight”
Explanation
Mug is a funny word that could represent a cup, your face, or even what you do when you rob someone. And, if you mug someone for their mug, you may end up getting a mug shot taken of your guilty face. Confusing? Read on. A mug is an informal vessel for drinking coffee or tea, as opposed to a china tea cup or a demitasse espresso cup, for example. Informally, a mug is a face: that's why a mug shot of a prisoner is a picture of his face right after he has been arrested. When it's a verb, mug means "rob someone while threatening violence." This meaning came from an earlier definition, "to strike someone in the face (or the mug)."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On a recent morning, the actress sports an extra-blond mini-ponytail and carries a mug with a cartoon sun on it, a friendly but perpetually multitasking celebrity whose staff keeps her on schedule.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
A press conference displayed mug shots as First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli intoned the arrests "prove what we have been saying."
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Seated in a brown leather armchair while holding a coffee mug, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee lays claim to his Muslim faith in straightforward, affecting terms.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
"To explain it, imagine a mug and a doughnut," he said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
He picked up the blue mug and nodded at the silver.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
Homeboy’s Delgado said the nonprofit may later offer different T-shirt designs, or expand into mugs and other types of merchandise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
The NHS advises pregnant women, external to keep caffeine intake below 200mg a day, about two mugs of filter coffee, as studies have linked it to low birth weight and other complications.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
You can find quirky kitty tchotchkes, funny feline-themed mugs and hats with cats on them, as well as a vast array of vintage pop culture items, clothing and jewelry sans cats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
It’s a passionate defense of cheesy souvenirs based on all of your responses to my post about collecting Starbucks mugs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The snack bar served tiny mugs of deeply bitter coffee and Italian gelato.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
Dr Mine Conkbayir posted on Instagram that her husband had gone out to get some medication on Friday, when he was mugged at a cash machine behind a Sainsbury's in Islington.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
The pervasive threat is a constant topic of conversation in a way that crime was when I was growing up: who had been mugged, whose apartment had been robbed, whose car had been stolen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Also: What kind of dingus gets mugged on Fifth Avenue?
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026
Ultrapure-water projects are big, one-off beasts that everybody and his brother wants to build, so even the smart operators can watch their margins get mugged the minute capital spending gets a head cold.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025
I told him I’d gotten mugged in Peshawar.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
Mogging - not to be confused with mugging or mugging someone off - refers to outshining or dominating someone, most often in looks.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
He would know: His team’s 2025 report featured a photo of the Aerosmith frontman mugging alongside Rizer in his past life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026
“It is funny that the heaviest of all awards is given by actors — ’us what we do, it means so much,’” he said, mugging ponderous emotion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2025
In a statement, Haigh said she told police she had lost her phone during a mugging on a night out in 2013 but later found it had not been taken.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2024
I stand and Scrappy joins me in mean mugging Dalton.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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