Hug

Pronunciation

• enPR: hÅ­g, IPA: /hʌɡ/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Origin

From earlier hugge ("to embrace") (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck ("to crouch, huddle down") and Old Norse hugga ("to comfort, console"), from hugr ("courage"), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz ("mind, sense"), cognate with Icelandic hugga ("to comfort"), Old English hyge ("thought, mind, heart, disposition, intention, courage, pride").

Full definition of hug

Noun

1. An affectionate close embrace.

Verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To crouch; huddle as with cold.
2. (intransitive) To cling closely together.
3. (transitive) To embrace by holding closely, especially in the arms.
   Billy hugged Danny until he felt better.
4. (transitive) To stay close to (the shore etc.)
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 8, We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.
5. (transitive, figurative) To hold fast; to cling to; to cherish.
• GlanvillWe hug deformities if they bear our names.

Synonyms

• accoll obsolete
• coll
• embrace

Derived terms

• body-hugging