I. ˈtəg verb
( tugged ; tugged ; tugging ; tugs )
Etymology: Middle English tuggen, toggen; akin to Old English tēon to pull, draw — more at tow
intransitive verb
1. : to pull hard
tugged at the chains with the aid of two husky comrades — T.B.Costain
jerked the shade and let it tug halfway up — Barnaby Conrad
insistent memories that tugged … from every cranny — Timothy Wharton
2. : to struggle in opposition : contend
a person … tugging and wrestling with doubts and conflicts — Omnibook
3. : to exert oneself laboriously : struggle , labor
tugged all his life to make a living
transitive verb
1. : to pull at hard : strain at
each oar was tugged by five or six slaves — T.B.Macaulay
2.
a. : to move by pulling hard : pull with effort : drag , haul
stuck fast until a team of cattle could … tug them out of the slough — T.B.Macaulay
the five year development plan now being tugged into shape — Economist
b. : to carry with difficulty : lug
tug about a mental burden of protest — J.G.Gilkey
3. obsolete : to handle roughly : maul
4. : to tow with a tugboat
Synonyms: see pull
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English tugge, from tuggen to tug
1. : something that is used as a connection for pulling: as
a. : a trace of a harness
b. : a short leather strap or loop
c. : a rope or chain used for pulling
d. : the iron hook of a hoisting tub to which a tackle is fastened to pull the tub up a mine shaft
2.
a. : an act or instance of tugging : a hard pull
making his own bed with a few careless tugs — Marcia Davenport
b. : a strong pulling force
enables him to defy the awful tug of gravity — G.E.Fox
knows … why the tug of the past has so much power — Norman Cousins
3.
a. : a hard struggle : a big effort
the stream was easy on the eastern side, but I saw that the tug was to come, for the main torrent swept … near the western bank — A.W.Kinglake
b. : a struggle between two people or forces
the tug within him between conservative and liberal — John Mason Brown
4.
a. : tugboat
b. : an airplane used to pull a glider
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably alteration (influenced by tug ) (II) of tog (I) & toge
1. Britain
a. : colleger 1
b. : king's scholar
2. chiefly Britain : an uncouth, dirty, or unscrupulous person