peg
[peg]
- a pin of wood or other material driven or fitted into something, as to fasten parts together, to hang things on, to make fast a rope or string on, to stop a hole, or to mark some point.
- Informal. a leg, either real or wooden: still on his pegs at 99.
- a notch or degree: to come down a peg.
- an occasion, basis, or reason: a peg to hang a grievance on.
- Also called pin. Music. a pin of wood or metal in the neck of a stringed instrument that may be turned in its socket to adjust a string's tension.
- Informal. a throw, especially in baseball: The peg to the plate was late.
- news peg.
- Economics. the level at which some price, exchange rate, etc., is set.
- British, Indian English. an alcoholic drink, especially a whiskey or brandy and soda.
- British. clothespin.
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- to drive or insert a peg into.
- to fasten with or as with pegs.
- to mark with pegs.
- to strike or pierce with or as with a peg.
- to keep (the commodity price, exchange rate, etc.) at a set level, as by manipulation or law.
- Informal. to throw (a ball).
- Journalism. to base (an article, feature story, etc.) upon; justify by (usually followed by on): The feature on the chief of police was pegged on the riots.
- Informal. to identify: to peg someone as a good prospect.
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- to work or continue persistently or energetically: to peg away at a homework assignment.
- Informal. to throw a ball.
- Croquet. to strike a peg, as in completing a game.
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- Also pegged. tapered toward the bottom of the leg: peg trousers.
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- take down a peg, to reduce the pride or arrogance of; humble: I guess that'll take him down a peg!
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Origin of peg
1400–50; late Middle English pegge (noun), peggen (v.) < Middle Dutch
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pegged
Contemporary Examples
Previous studies that include population level estimates have pegged the risks as even higher.
Elf is pegged as a Christmas movie, but it hardly feels religious.
The surge in applicants is pegged to fighting back against American snoops.
First, the two state solution, which she pegged to the left.
His segments should be topical, pegged to whatever insane pop-culture news was dominating the water cooler at the moment.
Historical Examples
After they had eaten, the Ranger handcuffed his prisoner and pegged him down loosely.
Oh, You Tex!William Macleod Raine
It was down-hill and up-hill and across and through; but we pegged along.
Pluck on the Long TrailEdwin L. Sabin
They let out a yell and closed in, and up the hill at one side I pegged.
Pluck on the Long TrailEdwin L. Sabin
Prices were pegged and farmers forced to pay taxes in produce.
Greener Than You ThinkWard Moore
The hide is pegged down on the ground, when it is covered with a kind of glue.
The Western WorldW.H.G. Kingston
peg
- a small cylindrical pin or dowel, sometimes slightly tapered, used to join two parts together
- a pin pushed or driven into a surface: used to mark scores, define limits, support coats, etc
- music any of several pins passing through the head (peg box) of a stringed instrument, which can be turned so as to tune strings wound around themSee also pin (def. 11)
- Also called: clothes peg British a split or hinged pin for fastening wet clothes to a line to dryUS and Canadian equivalent: clothespin
- informal a person's leg
- Northern English dialect a tooth
- British a small drink of wine or spirits, esp of brandy or whisky and soda
- an opportunity or pretext for doing somethinga peg on which to hang a theory
- a mountaineering piton
- croquet a post that a player's ball must strike to win the game
- angling a fishing station allotted to an angler in a competition, marked by a peg in the ground
- informal a level of self-esteem, importance, etc (esp in the phrases bring or take down a peg)
- informal See peg leg
- off the peg mainly British (of clothes) ready to wear, as opposed to tailor-made
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- (tr) to knock or insert a peg into or pierce with a peg
- (tr sometimes foll by down) to secure with pegsto peg a tent
- mountaineering to insert or use pitons
- (tr) to mark (a score) with pegs, as in some card games
- (tr) informal to aim and throw (missiles) at a target
- (intr; foll by away, along, etc) mainly British to work steadilyhe pegged away at his job for years
- (tr) to stabilize (the price of a commodity, an exchange rate, etc) by legislation or market operations
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Word Origin
C15: from Low Germanic pegge
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for pegged
peg
n.
mid-15c., from Middle Dutch pegge "peg," a common Low German word (cf. Low German pigge "peg," German Pegel "gauge rod, watermark," Middle Dutch pegel "little knob used as a mark," Dutch peil "gauge, watermark, standard"), of uncertain origin; perhaps from PIE *bak- "staff used as support" (see bacillus). To be a square peg in a round hole "be inappropriate for one's situation" is attested from 1836; to take someone down a peg is from 1580s, but the original literal sense is uncertain (most of the likely candidates are not attested until centuries later). Peg leg "wooden leg" attested from 1765.
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peg
v.
"fasten with or as if on a peg," 1590s, from peg (n.). Slang sense of "identify, classify" first recorded 1920. Related: Pegged; pegging.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with pegged
peg
In addition to the idiom beginning with peg
- peg away at
also see:
- square peg in a round hole
- take down a notch (peg)
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.