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Bug   /bəg/   Listen
noun
Bug  n.  
1.
A bugbear; anything which terrifies. (Obs.) "Sir, spare your threats: The bug which you would fright me with I seek."
2.
(Zool.) A general name applied to various insects belonging to the Hemiptera; as, the squash bug; the chinch bug, etc.
3.
(Zool.) An insect of the genus Cimex, especially the bedbug (Cimex lectularius). See Bedbug.
4.
(Zool.) One of various species of Coleoptera; as, the ladybug; potato bug, etc.; loosely, any beetle.
5.
(Zool.) One of certain kinds of Crustacea; as, the sow bug; pill bug; bait bug; salve bug, etc. Note: According to popular usage in England and among housekeepers in America around 1900, bug, when not joined with some qualifying word, was used specifically for bedbug. As a general term it is now used very loosely in America as a colloquial term to mean any small crawling thing, such as an insect or arachnid, and was formerly used still more loosely in England. "God's rare workmanship in the ant, the poorest bug that creeps." (). "This bug with gilded wings."
6.
(Computers) An error in the coding of a computer program, especially one causing the program to malfunction or fail. See, for example, year 2000 bug. "That's not a bug, it's a feature!"
7.
Any unexpected defect or flaw, such as in a machine or a plan.
8.
A hidden electronic listening device, used to hear or record conversations surreptitiously.
9.
An infectious microorganism; a germ (4). (Colloq.)
10.
An undiagnosed illness, usually mild, believed to be caused by an infectious organism. (Colloq.) Note: In some communities in the 1990's, the incidence of AIDS is high and AIDS is referred to colloquially as "the bug".
11.
An enthusiast; used mostly in combination, as a camera bug. (Colloq.)
Bait bug. See under Bait.
Bug word, swaggering or threatening language. (Obs.)



verb
Bug  v. t.  To annoy; to bother or pester.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Bug" Quotes from Famous Books



... life I have left to swear by, There's nothing that can stir me from my self. What I have done, I have done without repentance, For death can be no Bug-bear unto me, So long as Pharamond is ...
— Philaster - Love Lies a Bleeding • Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

... that for about half an hour I felt like the gate gard of a bug house. I got hold of the Lootenant in a friendly way an told him Id go halves on my bunk with him cause I didnt think it was safe to sleep with that fello. He might think he was a crum some night an try to choke somebody. The Lootenant said that was just a way they had of telefonin up ...
— "Same old Bill, eh Mable!" • Edward Streeter

... homologous bones in widely different animals. We see the same great law in the construction of the mouths of insects: what can be more different than the immensely long spiral proboscis of a sphinx-moth, the curious folded one of a bee or bug, and the great jaws of a beetle?—yet all these organs, serving for such different purposes, are formed by infinitely numerous modifications of an upper lip, mandibles, and two pairs of maxillae. Analogous laws govern the construction ...
— On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection • Charles Darwin

... trade! That's just a piece o' masters' humbug. It's rate o' wages I was talking of. Th' masters keep th' state o' trade in their own hands; and just walk it forward like a black bug-a-boo, to frighten naughty children with into being good. I'll tell yo' it's their part,—their cue, as some folks call it,—to beat us down, to swell their fortunes; and it's ours to stand up and fight hard,—not for ourselves alone, but for them round about ...
— North and South • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... pleasant. Like the itch that comes after a fast swim in the salty sea and a dry-out in the bright sun, when the drying salt water makes your skin itch with the vibrant pleasure of just being alive. This is not like the bite of any bug, but the kind that makes you want to take another dive into the ocean instead of trying to scratch it with your claws. Well, the itch in my finger had been one of the pleasant kinds. I could sort of scratch it away by taking the steel-hard part ...
— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith


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