Word: bug Part of Speech: noun Etymology: First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a “bedbug”), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), from Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”) which is traced alternatively to: * a Celtic root found in Scots bogill (“goblin, bugbear”) and obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat, fear”) and Middle Irish bocanách (“supernatural being”). * Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin, snot”). * or to a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre. For the “insect” meaning the assonance with Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda, from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above, might have played a role. Compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”). More at bud. But ultimately this convergence of meaning doesn't prove a conflation of the two terms; they might have existed in parallel since PIE times with similar meanings, even if unnoticed by literary sources. The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer. Pronunciation: /bʌɡ/, /bɐɡ/, /bʊɡ/ 1. An insect of the order Hemiptera (the “true bugs”). Example: Several pretty beetles, a superb "bug," and a few nice land-shells were obtained, and I returned in the afternoon well satisfied with my first trial of the promised land. 2. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. Labels: informal, proscribed Example: Speaking of advertising changes of name, a title by which those lodging-house pests, bugs, are now often known, that of Norfolk Howards, is derived from an advertisement in which one Ephraim Bug avowed his intention of being for the future known as Norfolk Howard. Example: Bugs are generated from the moisture of living animals, as it dries up outside their bodies. Lice are generated out of the flesh of animals. 3. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. Labels: informal, proscribed Example: A: Eew, what is that thing?! Is that a bug?! B: No, it's a spider. And don't worry: she's not gonna hurt you. 4. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. Labels: informal, proscribed Example: Bugs, oysters, prawns and crabs […] are plated up on the decks of four side-by-side trawlers bobbing on the calm waters of Trinity Inlet. 5. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. Labels: informal, proscribed, slang Example: We asked Harris if he had any recommendations about seeing the famous trilobite digs. He said we should just drive out to his claim in the Wheeler Quadrangle, and it was just fine with him if we dug a few bugs. 6. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. Labels: Maine, informal, proscribed 7. Any motile small terrestrial invertebrate, especially one that is seen as a pest. Labels: UK, informal, obsolete, proscribed, specifically 8. A problem that needs fixing. Labels: jargon Example: The software bug led the computer to calculate 2 plus 2 as 3. Example: 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. 9. A contagious illness, or a pathogen causing it. Example: He's got the flu bug. 10. An enthusiasm for something; an obsession. Labels: informal Example: I caught the skiing bug while staying in the Alps. Example: As we rode in the bus in the weird phosphorescent void of the Lincoln Tunnel we leaned on each other with fingers waving and yelled and talked excitedly, and I was beginning to get the bug like Dean. 11. A keen enthusiast or hobbyist. Labels: informal Example: His mother had been a bug on astrology, which was why the moment of his birth had been impressed on him so exactly. Example: Incidentally, the camera manufacturers have had a new worry—that they might "kill off the hobby," as U.S. Camera magazine put it recently—by automating to the point that real camera bugs would feel no challenge. 12. A concealed electronic eavesdropping or intercept device Example: We installed a bug in her telephone. 13. A small and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users. Example: He suspected the image was a Web bug used for determining who was visiting the site. 14. A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to identify the broadcasting network or cable channel. Example: Channel 4's bug distracted Jim from his favorite show. Example: The score bug displays the current football score over the ongoing match. 15. A manually positioned marker in flight instruments. Example: You look up the proper speed for the phase of flight, set the reminder bug, and then literally forget the speed. You don't read the airspeed number, you fly to the bug. 16. A semi-automated telegraph key. Example: 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. Example: 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. 17. Hobgoblin, scarecrow; anything that terrifies. Labels: obsolete Example: Sir, spare your threats: / The bug which you would fright me with I seek. Example: In old wives tales that in old time did live, To whose odde tales much credit men did give, Great store of goblins, fairies, bugs, nightmares, Urchins, and elves, to many a house repaires. 18. HIV. Example: The arguably most debated bareback practice that came to attract attention early on (and still does) was that of "bug chasing," in which HIV-negative men (bug chasers) actively seek out sex with HIV-positive men (gift givers). 19. A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker. 20. Synonym of oil bug. Labels: US, dated, slang Example: Now, only three years later, most of the major oil companies maintain staffs of these men who examine cores, classify the various types of "bugs," or foraminifera, and make charts showing the depths at which each of the hundreds of types is found. 21. An asterisk denoting an apprentice jockey's weight allowance. Labels: US, slang Example: The "bugs" are the asterisks next to the apprentice's name. One bug is a five-pound allowance, two bugs equal seven pounds, and three bugs equal ten pounds. 22. A young apprentice jockey. Labels: US, broadly, slang 23. Synonym of union bug. 24. A small piece of metal used in a slot machine to block certain winning combinations. Labels: slang Example: Because many illegal slot-machine operators here and abroad do not like to give the slot-machine player even one chance to hit the jackpot or the big bonus, they make use of a "bug." This is a small, flat half-circle of iron about an inch long, which looks something like a bug. 25. A metal clip attached to the underside of a table, etc. to hold hidden cards, as a form of cheating. Labels: slang Example: Some clumsy or audacious sharpers will go so far as to hold out cards in their lap, or stick them in a "bug" under the table. Example: Fargo had been in a saloon in Kansas when a man was caught using a bug. Made of steel and shaped like a money clip with two sharp ends, the bug was jammed under a table and held cards the bug's owner palmed until they were needed.