Mug

Pronunciation

• enPR: mÅ­g, IPA: /mʌɡ/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Origin

1560s ("bowl, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from (compare Swedish mugg ("mug, jug"), Norwegian mugge ("pitcher, open can for warm drinks"), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke ("mug"), also of unknown origin. "Face" sense possibly from grotesque faces on certain drinking vessels. "Assault" sense of verb possibly from hitting someone in the face.

Full definition of mug

Adjective

1. (archaic) Easily fooled, gullible.
• 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1"Great heavens! Is it?" Drummond helped himself to marmalade. "And to think that I once pictured myself skewering Huns with it. Do you think anybody would be mug enough to buy it, James?"

Noun

1. A large cup for hot liquids, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.
2. (slang) The face, often used deprecatingly.What an ugly mug.
3. (slang, vulgar) A gullible or easily-cheated person.He’s a gullible mug – he believed her again.
4. (UK, slang) A stupid or contemptible person.

Synonyms

• (face) mush
• (gullible person) See

Derived terms

• mug book
• mug shot

• mug’s game

Descendants

• Finnish: muki
• Swedish: mugg

Verb

1. (transitive, obsolete, UK) To strike in the face.
• 1821, The Fancy, i. p. 261.Madgbury showed game, drove Abbot in a corner, but got well Mugg'd.
• 1857, "The Leary Man", in Anglicus Ducange, The Vulgar TongueAnd if you come to fibbery, You must Mug one or two,
• 1866, London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 102"Suppose they had Mugged you?"
  "Done what to me?"
  "Mugged you. Slogged you, you know."
2. (transitive) To assault for the purpose of robbery.
3. (intransitive) To exaggerate a facial expression for communicative emphasis; to make a face, to pose, as for photographs or in a performance, in an exaggerated or affected manner.The children weren't interested in sitting still for a serious photo; they mugged for the camera.

Derived terms

• mug off
• mug up

Anagrams

• gum, GUM