pup
Americannoun
-
pups
plural
-
a young dog; puppy.
-
the young of certain other animals, as the rat, shark, or fur seal.
-
a small plant developing as an offshoot from a mature plant.
verb (used without object)
-
pups,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pupped,
past participle, past
-
pupping
present participle
noun
-
-
a young dog, esp when under one year of age; puppy
-
the young of various other animals, such as the seal
-
-
(of a bitch) pregnant
-
informal a conceited young man (esp in the phrase young pup )
-
to swindle someone by selling him something worthless
-
slang it's early yet
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pupsimple
-
pupssimple
-
have puppedperfect
-
has puppedperfect
-
am puppingprogressive
-
are puppingprogressive
-
is puppingprogressive
-
have been puppingperfect progressive
-
has been puppingperfect progressive
Past
-
puppedsimple
-
had puppedperfect
-
was puppingprogressive
-
were puppingprogressive
-
had been puppingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pup
First recorded in 1580–90; shortened variant of puppy
Explanation
Even though you probably think of a young, cuddly dog when you hear the word pup, a pup is the correct name for the young of many different mammals (even the not-so-cuddly porcupine!). When your dog has babies, they're pups, and the same is true of baby wolves. What's more surprising is that so are the baby anteaters in the zoo, as well as the offspring of sea lions, gerbils, and mongooses, among others. Sometimes this noun is also used to mean a young person who's particularly naive or arrogant. Pup comes from puppy, from the Middle French poupée, "doll."
Vocabulary lists containing pup
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:
The pup reads like a burst of “caring, energy, and joy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
When Diana Tupiza and Andres Alquinga decided to get married, they selected a rather unusual witness for the civil wedding ceremony: Luna, their Pekingese pup who stamped her paw print on the marriage certificate.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
Even if you stay two nights in hotels, the cost of driving with your pup will be lower.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
The large pup drops to the ground as Marseille screams: “No!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026
Miyax clapped, and tossing her head like a pup, crawled in a happy circle.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
When temperatures rise, the females abandon their pups to hunt for food, he explained.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
The mortality rate may be an underestimate as pups were still dying at the time of the final surveys, researchers said.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
The announcement resembled Colossal’s rollout of the “dire wolf” pups: Publications that had received guided tours of its lab produced breathless articles taking Colossal’s claims at face value, generally lacking skeptical commentary by unaffiliated biologists.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
The helpers look after the pups, nurse and feed them, protect them from predators, and even teach them how to eat a scorpion safely.
From Slate ● May 10, 2026
“I think maybe it’s time for boy and girl pups to get some shut-eye.”
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
After a bitch has pupped, there always is from the vagina a discharge, which rarely ceases before a week expires, and sometimes flows forth for a longer period.
From The Dog by Dinks
But they've beat me plumb out—same as if I was some sucker who ain't never roped an' branded a three-year-old steer since I was pupped.
From The Forfeit by Cullum, Ridgwell
"The dog has pupped," said the little old woman; and she shook her man.
From The Path of Life by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander
Let's see; how long have I been a-wearin' of that shirt; oh, I remember, I bought it jist two days afore Five Bob was pupped.
From While the Billy Boils by Lawson, Henry
I tell you and your friends that it was not wolves that were pupped in the sand of the shaggy Prussian forests when the first Hohenzollern was dropped.
From The Crimson Tide A Novel by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
The sea lion breeding and pupping season is fast approaching at main rookeries such as the Channel Islands, according to Giancarlo Rulli, associate director of public relations for the Marine Mammal Center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
"Although all of the cownose rays in Bermuda to date are females, we also observed small, immature rays suggesting pupping may have recently occurred here," said Ajemian.
From Science Daily ● May 20, 2024
"Unfortunately, it's a sample size of one. I think many scientists would agree that in order for us to consider this area of pupping location, we would need a lot more evidence."
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024
On my drive home, I became intent on documenting harp seals as a face of the climate crisis and have returned to the gulf’s pupping grounds over and over again for the past decade.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024
Assistance, when to be afforded during pupping, 360.
From The Dog by Dinks
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
