peg
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɛɡ/
ipa: [pʰɛɡ]
homophone: Peg
rhymes: -ɛɡ
Forms: form: pegs
form: pegging
form: pegged
form: pegged
Etymology: From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Swedish pigg (“tooth, spike”), Danish pig (“spike”), Norwegian Bokmål pigg (“spike”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”). Related to beak.
This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic. Proto-Germanic *p, when not in a consonant cluster beginning with *s, developed by Grimm's law from the Proto-Indo-European consonant *b, which was very rare.
(To indicate or ascribe an attribute to): Assumed to originate from the use of pegs or pins as markers on a bulletin board or a list.
Senses: examples: text: Let's peg the rug to the floor.
glosses: To fasten using a peg.
examples: text: I found a tack and pegged your picture to the bulletin board.
text: She lunged forward and pegged him to the wall.
glosses: To affix or pin.
examples: text: China's currency is no longer pegged to the American dollar.
text: Wages absorbed 80% of the total revenue (which was inescapable), and they were rising at almost twice the rate of fares, which were pegged by law.
ref: 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51:
glosses: To fix a value or price.
glosses: To narrow the cuff openings of a pair of pants so that the legs take on a peg shape.
synonyms: word: fling
word: hurl
word: bung
word: cast
word: chuck
word: chunk
word: cook
word: dash
word: dump
word: feck
word: fling
word: jerk
word: heave
word: hield
word: hoy
word: huck
word: hurl
word: hurtle
word: launch
word: lob
word: peck
word: peg
word: pick
word: pitch
word: precipitate
word: project
word: quoit
word: shy
word: slight
word: skew
word: sling
word: thrill
word: throw
word: toss
word: traject
word: warp
word: whang
word: whip
word: whop
word: wing
glosses: To throw.
glosses: To throw a ball at (someone), to hit (someone) with a ball.
examples: text: He's been pegged as a suspect.
text: I pegged his weight at 165.
text: 1997 page 84 of Patriot Gambit by Don Pendletone
Bolan pegged his weight somewhere around 150 pounds. If he was armed, the weapon wasn't showing. Still, the Executioner would take no chances.
glosses: To indicate or ascribe an attribute to.
examples: text: She pegged twelve points.
qualifier: cribbage
glosses: To move one's pegs to indicate points scored; to score with a peg.
examples: text: We pegged the speedometer across the flats.
glosses: To reach or exceed the maximum value on (a scale or gauge).
examples: text: When you're pegging him and he gets close to orgasm, you'll observe a number of physical signs […]
ref: 2007, Violet Blue, The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Strap-On Sex, →ISBN, page 32:
glosses: To engage in anal sex by penetrating with a strap-on dildo.
examples: text: For more than the period of his splendid service in India, which the country was not slow to acknowledge, the Volunteers had kept pegging at it, despite all the official obstacles thrown in the way […]
ref: 1911, William Montgomerie Lamont, Volunteer memories, page 160:
glosses: To keep working hard at something; to peg away.
glosses: To drink alcohol frequently, especially brandy and soda; to tipple.
examples: text: I was pegging a hack when the horse started limping. I got down to see if he'd picked up a stone and he lashed out at me.
ref: 2014, Robert Newman, The Case of the Somerville Secret:
glosses: To drive (a hackney carriage).
Derived terms: depeg
level pegging
mispeg
peg down
peggable
pegged pants
peggee
pegger
pegging
peg it
peg out
peg the needle
repeg
unpeg
Related terms: word: wedge
word: compare Latin cuneus
word: cunny
word: cunt
word: compare Latin cunnus
sense: cribbage
word: muggins