I. peg 1 /peɡ/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: Probably from Middle Dutch pegge ]
1 . SHORT STICK a short piece of wood, metal, or plastic that is attached to a wall or fits into a hole, used especially to hang things on or to fasten things together:
Sarah hung her coat on the peg.
a table fitted together with pegs
a pattern made with coloured pegs on a board
2 . HANGING WET CLOTHES British English a small plastic or wooden object used to fasten wet clothes to a thin rope to dry SYN clothes peg , clothespin American English
3 . TENT a pointed piece of wood or metal that you push into the ground in order to keep a tent in the correct position
4 . take/bring somebody down a peg (or two) to make someone realize that they are not as important or skilled as they think they are:
Evans is an arrogant bully who needs taking down a peg or two.
5 . MUSICAL INSTRUMENT a wooden screw used to make the strings of a ↑ violin , ↑ guitar etc tighter or looser SYN tuning peg
6 . a peg to hang something on British English something that is used as a reason for doing, discussing, or believing something:
As a peg to hang it on, the tournament had the 100th anniversary of Nehru’s birth.
7 . DRINK British English old-fashioned a small amount of strong alcoholic drink, especially ↑ whisky or ↑ brandy
⇨ square peg in a round hole at ↑ square 1 (12)
II. peg 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle pegged , present participle pegging ) [transitive]
1 . to set prices, wages etc at a particular level, or set them in relation to something else
peg something at something
The dividend was pegged at 6.1p.
peg something to something
a currency pegged to the American dollar
2 . to fasten something somewhere with a peg:
The tent flap was pegged open.
Outside, a woman was pegging sheets to a washing line.
peg somebody/something as something phrasal verb
to believe or say that someone has a particular type of character, or that a situation has particular qualities:
I’d had him pegged as a troublemaker.
peg away phrasal verb British English informal
to work hard and with determination
peg away at
She pegged away at her essay.
peg somebody/something ↔ back phrasal verb British English
to stop someone from winning in a sport or from increasing the amount by which they are winning – used in news reports:
They were pegged back by an equaliser from Jameson.
peg out phrasal verb
1 . British English informal to die, or to fall down because you are tired
2 . peg something ↔ out British English to fasten wet clothes to a washing line to dry
3 . peg something ↔ out to mark a piece of ground with wooden sticks