English

Proper noun

Bug

1. the Bug River, flowing northwest 450 mi. between Belarus and Poland.
2. the Bug River in the Ukraine, flowing 530 mi. to the Dnieper estuary.

Synonyms

• Buh

Translations

Noun

Bug ‎(plural Bugs)

1. (slang) A Volkswagen Beetle car.

Anagrams

• gub

German

Etymology

From Middle High German buoc ‎(“animal shoulder”), from Old High German buog ‎(“animal shoulder”). The common contemporary meaning (“bow”) stems via German Low German from cognate Middle Low German bōch, from Old Saxon bōg.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /buːk/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /buːx/ (northern and central Germany; becoming rare for this particular word)
• Rhymes: -uːk, -uːx
• Homophone: Buch (substandard)

Noun

Bug m ‎(genitive Buges or Bugs, plural Buge or Büge)

1. (nautical) bow, prow (of a ship)
2. nose (of an aircraft)
3. shoulder joint (of an animal)
4. joist, joint (in woodwork)

Declension

Plautdietsch

Noun

Bug f

1. (nautical) bow, prow (of a ship)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [buk]
• Homophones: Bóg, bóg, buk

Proper noun

Bug m inan

1. the Bug river

Declension

English

Noun

A green shield bug (Palomena prasina) in Budapest, Hungary. It is an insect of the order Hemiptera, and so is one of the "true bugs".

bug ‎(plural bugs)

1. An insect of the order Hemiptera (the "true bugs").
2. (colloquial) Any insect, arachnid, or other terrestrial arthropod that is a pest.

   These flies are a bother. I’ll get some bug spray and kill them.

3. Various species of marine or freshwater crustaceans; e.g. a Morton Bay bug, mudbug.
4. A problem that needs fixing, especially in computing.

   The software bug led the computer to calculate 2 plus 2 as 5.

   • 1878, Thomas P. Hughes, quoting Thomas Edison, Edison to Puskas, 13 November 1878, Edison papers, quoted in American Genesis: A History of the American Genius for Invention, Edison National Laboratory, U.S. National Park Service, West Orange, N.J.: Penguin Books, published 1989, ISBN 0-14-009741-4, page 75:

     I have the right principle and am on the right track, but time, hard work and some good luck are necessary too. It has been just so in all of my inventions. The first step is an intuition, and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise -- this thing gives out and [it is] then that "Bugs" -- as such little faults and difficulties are called -- show themselves and months of intense watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success or failure is certainly reached.

5. A contagious illness; a bacterium or virus causing it

   He’s got the flu bug.

6. An enthusiasm for something; an obsession

   I think he’s a gold bug, he has over 10,000 ounces in storage.

   to catch the skiing bug

7. An electronic intercept device

   We installed a bug in her telephone.

8. A small and and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users.

   He suspected the image was a web bug used for determining who was visiting the site.

9. (broadcasting) A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to indicate what network or cable channel is televising it

   Channel 4's bug distracted Jim from his favorite show.

10. (aviation) A manually positioned marker in flight instruments
11. A semi-automated telegraph key
    • 1938, Paul Gallico, Farewell to Sport, page 257:

      At this point your telegraph operator, sitting at your right, goes "Ticky-tick-tickety-de-tick-tick," with his bug, as he calls his transmitter, and looks at you expectantly.

    • 1942, Arthur Reinhold Nilson, Radio Code Manual, page 134:

      As far as the dashes are concerned, the bug is the same in operation as any regular key would be if it were turned up on edge instead of sitting flat on the desk.

    • 1986, E. L. Doctorow, World's Fair, page 282:

      I was a very good radio operator. I bought my own bug. That's what the telegraph key in its modern form was called. It was semiautomatic.

12. (obsolete) A bugbear; anything that terrifies.
    • Shakespeare

      Sir, spare your threats: / The bug which you would fright me with I seek.

13. (chiefly LGBT, "the bug") HIV.
14. (poker) A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "bug": major, minor, serious, critical, nasty, annoying, important, strange, stupid, flying, silly.

Synonyms

• (Terrifying thing): bog, bogey, bogle, boggle, boggard, bugbear; see also goblin (hostile supernatural creature)
• (An intercept device): wiretap
• See also Wikisaurus:defect

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bug ‎(third-person singular simple present bugs, present participle bugging, simple past and past participle bugged)

1. (informal, transitive) To annoy.

   Don’t bug me, I’m busy!

2. (transitive) To install an electronic listening device or devices in.

   We need to know what’s going on. We’ll bug his house.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:annoy

Derived terms

• bug out

Translations

See also

• Hemiptera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hemiptera on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Hemiptera on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Software bug on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• gub

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse búkr.

Noun

bug c (singular definite bugen, plural indefinite buge)

1. stomach
2. abdomen
3. belly

Inflection

French

Etymology

English bug

Noun

bug m ‎(plural bugs)

1. (slang) A bug (a problem, especially in computing)

Karipúna Creole French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuɡ/

Noun

bug

1. boy (young male human)

References

• 1987, Alfred W. Tobler, Dicionário Crioulo Karipúna/Português Português/Crioulo Karípúna, Summer Institute of Linguistics, page 5.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English bug.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɐɡ/, /ˈbɐ.ɡi/

Noun

bug m (plural bugs)

1. (computing) bug (error in a program’s functioning)
2. (slang) anything causing unusual behaviour

Synonyms

• (error): defeito, falha, erro

Derived terms

• bugado
• bugar