bug

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   An insect of the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”).

2. 2

   Any of various species of marine (saltwater or freshwater) crustaceans

   Any of various species of marine (saltwater or freshwater) crustaceans; e.g. a Moreton Bay bug, mudbug.

   • Bugs, oysters, prawns and crabs […] are plated up on the decks of four side-by-side trawlers bobbing on the calm waters of Trinity Inlet.
3. 3

   Any insect, or sometimes an arachnid, crustacean, or other arthropod, especially one that…

   Any insect, or sometimes an arachnid, crustacean, or other arthropod, especially one that is small, terrestrial, or seen as a pest.

   • These flies are a bother. I’ll get some bug spray and kill them.
4. ›+ 32 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Any minibeast.

   2. 5

      A bedbug.

      • Bugs are generated from the moisture of living animals, as it dries up outside their bodies. Lice are generated out of the flesh of animals.
   3. 6

      A problem that needs fixing.

      • The software bug led the computer to calculate 2 plus 2 as 3.
      • A... leading aluminum producer claims it has worked all the bugs out of building and servicing aluminum radiators, says it hopes to have a large chunk of the radiator market by the early nineteen seventies.
   4. 7

      A contagious illness, or a pathogen causing it.

      • He's got the flu bug.
   5. 8

      An enthusiasm for something

      An enthusiasm for something; an obsession.

      • I caught the skiing bug while staying in the Alps.
      • As we rode in the bus in the weird phosphorescent void of the Lincoln Tunnel we leaned on each other with fingers waving and yelled and talked excitedly, and I was beginning to get the bug like Dean.
   6. 9

      A keen enthusiast or hobbyist.

      • His mother had been a bug on astrology, which was why the moment of his birth had been impressed on him so exactly.
      • Incidentally, the camera manufacturers have had a new worry—that they might "kill off the hobby," as U.S. Camera magazine put it recently—by automating to the point that real camera bugs would feel no challenge.
   7. 10

      A concealed electronic eavesdropping or intercept device

      • We installed a bug in her telephone.
   8. 11

      A small and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide…

      A small and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users.

      • He suspected the image was a Web bug used for determining who was visiting the site.
   9. 12

      A lobster.

   10. 13

       A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television…

       A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to identify the broadcasting network or cable channel.

       • Channel 4's bug distracted Jim from his favorite show.
       • The score bug displays the current football score over the ongoing match.
   11. 14

       A manually positioned marker in flight instruments.

       • You look up the proper speed for the phase of flight, set the reminder bug, and then literally forget the speed. You don't read the airspeed number, you fly to the bug.
   12. 15

       A semi-automated telegraph key.

       • At this point your telegraph operator, sitting at your right, goes "Ticky-tick-tickety-de-tick-tick," with his bug, as he calls his transmitter, and looks at you expectantly.
       • As far as the dashes are concerned, the bug is the same in operation as any regular key would be if it were turned up on edge instead of sitting flat on the desk.
       • I was a very good radio operator. I bought my own bug. That's what the telegraph key in its modern form was called. It was semiautomatic.
   13. 16

       Hobgoblin, scarecrow

       Hobgoblin, scarecrow; anything that terrifies.

       • Sir, spare your threats: / The bug which you would fright me with I seek.
   14. 17

       HIV.

       • The arguably most debated bareback practice that came to attract attention early on (and still does) was that of "bug chasing," in which HIV-negative men (bug chasers) actively seek out sex with HIV-positive men (gift givers).
   15. 18

       A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker.

   16. 19

       A trilobite.

       • We asked Harris if he had any recommendations about seeing the famous trilobite digs. He said we should just drive out to his claim in the Wheeler Quadrangle, and it was just fine with him if we dug a few bugs.
   17. 20

       Synonym of oil bug.

   18. 21

       An asterisk denoting an apprentice jockey's weight allowance.

       • The "bugs" are the asterisks next to the apprentice's name. One bug is a five-pound allowance, two bugs equal seven pounds, and three bugs equal ten pounds.
   19. 22

       A young apprentice jockey.

   20. 23

       Synonym of union bug.

   21. 24

       A small piece of metal used in a slot machine to block certain winning combinations.

   22. 25

       A metal clip attached to the underside of a table, etc. to hold hidden cards, as a form…

       A metal clip attached to the underside of a table, etc. to hold hidden cards, as a form of cheating.

       • Some clumsy or audacious sharpers will go so far as to hold out cards in their lap, or stick them in a "bug" under the table.
       • Fargo had been in a saloon in Kansas when a man was caught using a bug. Made of steel and shaped like a money clip with two sharp ends, the bug was jammed under a table and held cards the bug's owner palmed until they were needed.
   23. 26

       To annoy.

       • Don’t bug me, I’m busy!
   24. 27

       To act suspiciously or irrationally, especially in a way that annoys others.

       • I'm worried about Wallace. He's been buggin' all week.
   25. 28

       To install an electronic listening device or devices in.

       • We need to know what’s going on. We’ll bug his house.
   26. 29

       To bulge or protrude.

   27. 30

       To represent (a value) using a bug on an instrument.

       • You (or the autopilot) are still steering to the bugged heading […]
   28. 31

       An East European river which flows northwest 450 miles through Belarus, Poland and…

       An East European river which flows northwest 450 miles through Belarus, Poland and Ukraine into the Baltic Sea. (Western Bug).

   29. 32

       A river in Ukraine (Southern Bug), flowing 530 miles to the Dnieper estuary.

   30. 33

       A Volkswagen Beetle car.

   31. 34

       A Bugatti car.

   32. 35

       Initialism of bisexual until graduation.

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