lug

Noun

lug (plural lugs)

1. The act of hauling or dragging.

   a hard lug

2. That which is hauled or dragged.

   The pack is a heavy lug.

3. Anything that moves slowly.
   • 1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, →OCLC:

     whereof the one is quick of cast, trick, and trim both for pleasure and profit: the other is a lug

4. A lug nut.
5. (electricity) A device for terminating an electrical conductor to facilitate the mechanical connection; to the conductor it may be crimped to form a cold weld, soldered or have pressure from a screw.
6. A part of something which sticks out, used as a handle or support.
7. A large, clumsy, awkward man; a fool.

   Synonym: big lug

8. (UK) An ear or ear lobe.

   While shaving, the poor sod had a fit and cut part of a lug off.

9. A wood box used for transporting fruit or vegetables.
10. (slang) A request for money, as for political purposes.

    They put the lug on him at the courthouse.

11. A lugworm.
12. (informal) A pull or drag on a cigarette.
    • 2013, Paul Burke, The Man Who Fell In Love With His Wife:

      He took another long lug on his cigarette before continuing quietly, 'I've seen too much and it was seriously screwing me up. […]

Verb

lug (third-person singular simple present lugs, present participle lugging, simple past and past participle lugged)

1. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To haul or drag along (especially something heavy); to carry; to pull.

   Why do you always lug around so many books?

   • c. 1700, Jeremy Collier, A Thought:

     They must divide the image among them, and so lug off every one his share.

   • 1923, P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:

     As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.

   • 2021 July 14, Anthony Lambert, “Grand designs on superior interiors”, in RAIL, number 935, page 48:

     Luggage areas need to be within sight, rather than at the end of carriages, despite the inconvenience of lugging cases further into a carriage.

2. (transitive) To run at too slow a speed.

   When driving up a hill, choose a lower gear so you don't lug the engine.

3. (transitive, nautical) To carry an excessive amount of sail for the conditions prevailing.
4. (intransitive, horse-racing) To pull toward the inside rail ("lugging in") or the outside rail ("lugging out") during a race.

Noun

lug (plural lugs)

1. (UK, dialect) A rod or pole.
   • 1567, George Turberville, Epitome:

     And from the bodies [of pines and oaks] the boughes and loftie lugges they beare.

2. (UK, archaic, dialect) A measure of length equal to 16+¹⁄₂ feet.

   Synonym: rod

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 11:

     eight lugs of grownd; / Into the which returning backe, he fell

3. (nautical) A lugsail.
4. (harness) The leather loop or ear by which a shaft is held up.
5. A loop (or protuberance) found on both arms of a hinge, featuring a hole for the axis of the hinge.
6. A ridge or other protuberance on the surface of a body to increase traction or provide a hold for holding and moving it.

Usage notes

The plural form of lug is lugte, but it exists only in literary texts and is otherwise never used.