Bug
Pronunciation
- enPR: bÅg, IPA: /bʌɡ/
- Rhymes: -ʌɡ
Origin
First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a bedbug), from earlier bugge ("beetle"), a conflation of two words:
- Middle English bugge ("scarecrow, hobgoblin"), from Proto-Germanic *bugja- ("swollen up, thick") (compare Norwegian bugge ("big man"), dialectal Low German Bögge ("goblinâ€, “snot")
- Middle English budde ("beetle"), from Old English budda (see scearnbudda ("dung beetle")), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô (compare Low German Budde ("louse, grub"), Norwegian budda ("newborn domestic animal")). More at bud.
Noun
bug
(plural bugs)- An insect of the order Hemiptera (the "true bugs").
- (colloquial) Any insect, arachnid, or other terrestrial arthropod that is a pest.These flies are a bother. I’ll get some bug spray and kill them.
- Various species of marine crustaceans; e.g. a Morton Bay bug.
- A problem that needs fixing, especially in computing.The software bug led the computer to calculate 2 plus 2 as 5.
- 1878, Thomas P. Hughes, Edison to Puskas, 13 November 1878, Edison papers Chapter , I have the right principle and am on the right track, but time, hard work and some good luck are necessary too. It has been just so in all of my inventions. The first step is an intuition, and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise -- this thing gives out and is then that "Bugs" -- as such little faults and difficulties are called -- show themselves and months of intense watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success or failure is certainly reached.
- A contagious illness; a bacterium or virus causing itHe’s got the flu bug.
- An enthusiasm for something; an obsessionI think he’s a gold bug, he has over 10,000 ounces in storage.to catch the skiing bug
- An electronic intercept deviceWe installed a bug in her telephone
- A small and 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.
- (broadcasting) A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to indicate what network or cable channel is televising itChannel 4's bug distracted Jim from his favorite show
- (aviation) A manually positioned marker in flight instruments
- A semi-automated telegraph key
- 1938, Paul Gallico, Farewell to Sport, page 257: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.
- 1942, Arthur Reinhold Nilson, Radio Code Manual, page 134: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.
- 1986, E. L. Doctorow, World's Fair, page 282: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.
- (obsolete) A bugbear; anything that terrifies.
- ShakespeareSir, spare your threats:
The bug which you would fright me with I seek. - (chiefly LGBT, "the bug") HIV.
- (poker) A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker.
Usage notes
Adjectives often applied to "bug": major, minor, serious, critical, nasty, annoying, important, strange, stupid, flying, silly.
Synonyms
- (An intercept device) wiretap