hug
//hʌɡ//
Forms
- Plural
- hugs
- present (v1)
- hug
- past (v2)
- hugged
- past participle (v3)
- hugged
- present participle
- hugging
- 3rd person singular
- hugs
Definitions
1.A particular grip in wrestling.
- Can I have a hug?
2.A close embrace, especially when charged with an emotion such as affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, aggression, compassion, and the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace or "little hug").
- Can I have a hug?
1.To cling closely together.
2.To embrace by holding closely, especially in the arms.
- Billy hugged Danny until he felt better.
- They hugged for what seemed like an eternity.
3.To stay close to.
- Gourock also boasted a pier railway, although its pier hugged the shore rather than jutting into the bay.
- 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.
4.To hold fast; to cling to; to cherish.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4262
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From earlier hugge (“to embrace, clasp with the arms”) (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck (“to crouch, huddle down”) and Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, console”)
From hugr (“mind, heart, thought”)