Definitions for tug
tʌgtug

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tug, jerknoun

   a sudden abrupt pull

2. tugboat, tug, towboat, towerverb

   a powerful small boat designed to pull or push larger ships

3. tugverb

   pull hard

   "The prisoner tugged at the chains"; "This movie tugs at the heart strings"

4. tug, labor, labour, push, driveverb

   strive and make an effort to reach a goal

   "She tugged for years to make a decent living"; "We have to push a little to make the deadline!"; "She is driving away at her doctoral thesis"

5. tugverb

   tow (a vessel) with a tug

   "The tugboat tugged the freighter into the harbor"

6. lug, tote, tugverb

   carry with difficulty

   "You'll have to lug this suitcase"

7. tugverb

   move by pulling hard

   "The horse finally tugged the cart out of the mud"

8. tugverb

   pull or strain hard at

   "Each oar was tugged by several men"

9. tugverb

   struggle in opposition

   "She tugged and wrestled with her conflicts"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tugnoun

   a sudden powerful pull

2. tugnoun

   a tugboat

3. tugnoun

   An act of masturbation

   He had a quick tug to calm himself down before his date.

4. tugverb

   to pull or drag with great effort

   The police officers tugged the drunkard out of the pub.

5. tugverb

   to pull hard repeatedly

   He lost his patience trying to undo his shoe-lace, but tugging it made the knot even tighter.

6. tugverb

   to tow by tugboat

7. Etymology: From tuggen, toggen, from togian, from tugōnan, from dewk-. Cognate with togen, zogen, toga. Related to tee, tow.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Tugnoun

   Pull performed with the utmost effort.

   Etymology: from the verb.

   Downward by the feet he drew
   The trembling dastard: at the tug he falls,
   Vast ruins come along, rent from the smoking walls. Dryd.

2. To Tugverb

   Etymology: tigan, teogan , Saxon.

   1. To pull with strength long continued in the utmost exertion; to draw.

   No more tug one another thus, nor moil yourselves; receive
   Prise equal; conquests crown ye both: the lists to others leave. George Chapman, Iliads.

   These two massy pillars
   With horrible confusion to and fro
   He tugg’d, he shook, till down they came, and drew
   Upon the heads of all that sat beneath,
   The whole roof after them, with burst of thunder. John Milton.

   Take pains the genuine meaning to explore,
   There sweat, there strain, tug the laborious oar. Wentworth Dillon.

   2. To pull; to pluck.

   Priest, beware thy beard;
   I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly. William Shakespeare, Hen. VI.

   There leaving him to his repose
   Secured from the pursuit of foes,
   And wanting nothing but a song,
   And a well tun’d theorbo hung
   Upon a bough, to ease the pain
   His tugg’d ears suffer’d, with a strain. Hudibras, p. i.

3. To Tugverb

   1. To pull; to draw.

   The meaner sort will tug lustily at one oar. George Sandys.

   Lead your thoughts to the galleys, there those wretched captives are chained to the oars they tug at. Boyle.

   There is such tugging and pulling this way and that way. Henry More, Antidote against Atheism.

   Thus galley-slaves tug willing at their oar,
   Content to work in prospect of the shore;
   But would not work at all, if not constrained before. Dryd.

   We have been tugging a great while against the stream, and have almost weathered our point; a stretch or two more will do the work; but if instead of that we slacken our arms, and drop our oars, we shall be hurried back to the place from whence we set out. Joseph Addison, on the State of War.

   2. To labour; to contend; to struggle.

   Cast your good counsels
   Upon his passion; let myself and fortune
   Tug for the time to come. William Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale.

   His face is black and full of blood,
   His hands abroad display’d, as one that graspt
   And tugg’d for life. William Shakespeare, Hen. VI. p. ii.

   They long wrestled and strenuously tugg’d for their liberty with a no less magnanimous than constant pertinacy. How.

   Go now with some daring drug,
   Bait thy disease, and while they tug,
   Thou to maintain the cruel strife,
   Spend the dear treasure of thy life. Richard Crashaw.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Tugverb

   to pull or draw with great effort; to draw along with continued exertion; to haul along; to tow; as, to tug a loaded cart; to tug a ship into port

2. Tugverb

   to pull; to pluck

3. Tugverb

   to pull with great effort; to strain in labor; as, to tug at the oar; to tug against the stream

4. Tugverb

   to labor; to strive; to struggle

5. Tugnoun

   a pull with the utmost effort, as in the athletic contest called tug of war; a supreme effort

6. Tugnoun

   a sort of vehicle, used for conveying timber and heavy articles

7. Tugnoun

   a small, powerful steamboat used to tow vessels; -- called also steam tug, tugboat, and towboat

8. Tugnoun

   a trace, or drawing strap, of a harness

9. Tugnoun

   an iron hook of a hoisting tub, to which a tackle is affixed

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Tug

   tug, v.t. to pull with effort: to drag along.—v.i. to pull with great effort: to struggle:—pr.p. tug′ging; pa.t. and pa.p. tugged.—n. a strong pull: a steam-vessel for towing ships: a strong rope.—ns. Tug′-boat, a strongly-built steamship for towing vessels; Tug′ger, one who tugs.—adv. Tug′gingly.—n. Tug′-of-war, a laborious contest: a contest in which opposing teams tug at the end of a rope, in their efforts to pull one another over a line marked on the ground between them. [Closely conn. with tuck and tow (v.).]

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. tug

   A vessel for towing in and out of harbours and the like. (See STEAM-TUG.)

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. TUG

   What does TUG stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the TUG acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Move
   • Pull
   • Struggle
   • Tow
   • Transport

Anagrams for tug »

1. gut

2. GUT

How to pronounce tug?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say tug in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tug in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tug in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of tug in a Sentence

1. Donald Trump:

   I will say that in immigration as well as with anything else, there has to be tug and pull. You have to be able to have some flexibility, i may have said something like that with The New York Times. But I am not going to release something off the record.

2. Simon Morris:

   You may have to take another 25% to create the right societal engagements and environmental designs, so will investors accept lower returns? I think it's probably causing a bit of head scratching around the industry in this tug-of-war of priorities.

3. Erik Brattberg:

   Europeans are under no illusion that the US is going to take a radically different approach to China -- Donald Trump has permanently changed the narrative on that, while they are relieved that the White House is going to be more predictable on China and keen to coordinate with partners, they are still going to resist becoming a chip in the Beijing-DC tug of war.

4. Andre Bakhos:

   It's going to be a tug of war on economic data and the court of investor opinion as to what exactly the Fed does.

5. John Roberts:

   I did learn early on that when you are holding the reins of leadership you should be careful not to tug on them too much -- you will find out they aren't connected to anything.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tug
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tug
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=tug
4. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tug
5. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=tug
6. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=tug