mug
UK/mʌɡ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/mɐɡ/
mug noun: a large cup for beverages, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.
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Noun (1)
mug (plural mugs)
- A large cup for beverages, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.
- The face.
- […] 'let him go, I tell you, or I'll be after breaking your ugly mug,' and with that I gave him a dig that knocked him into smithereens.1836, The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée, volume 7, page 167
- When did ever a gentleman o’ fortune show his stern to that much dollars for a boosy old seaman with a blue mug — and him dead too?1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- The mouth.
- Shut your mug!
- A gullible or easily cheated person.
- He's a gullible mug – he believed her again.
- A stupid or contemptible person.
- A criminal.
- A mug shot.
- Perhaps if I told you that there were forty arrests made in one day here, you will realize that with this small equipment available in the Sheriff's Office, it is very difficult to get mugs. These people are being mugged as they are being arrested but with an entirely inadequate force at work...1940, United States. Congress Senate, Hearings (volume 13, page 27252)
Verb
mug (third-person singular simple present mugs, present participle mugging, simple past and past participle mugged)
- To strike in the face.
- Madgbury showed game, drove Abbot in a corner, but got well Mugg'd.1821, The Fancy, i. p.261
- And if you come to fibbery, You must Mug one or two,1857, "The Leary Man", in Anglicus Ducange, The Vulgar Tongue
- To assault for the purpose of robbery.
- To exaggerate a facial expression for communicative emphasis; to make a face, to pose, as for photographs or in a performance, in an exaggerated or affected manner.
- The children weren't interested in sitting still for a serious photo; they mugged for the camera.
- Her dress is too obviously "costume," and Ford-Smith mugs too broadly for us to forget, as we should, that Katie is a theatrical invention.1989 May 6, Mara Math, “Boston's Women in Theatre Extravaganza”, in Gay Community News, page 6
- To photograph for identification; to take a mug shot of.
- Perhaps if I told you that there were forty arrests made in one day here, you will realize that with this small equipment available in the Sheriff's Office, it is very difficult to get mugs. These people are being mugged as they are being arrested but with an entirely inadequate force at work...1940, United States. Congress Senate, Hearings (volume 13, page 27252)
- The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01
- To learn or review a subject as much as possible in a short time; cram.
Adjective
mug (comparative mugger, superlative muggest)
- Uninteresting or unpleasant.
- But anyways, I stayed back a second year and my papa was visiting when momma was opening de report card. Papa gave me de muggest moment in my life like.2013 April 12, “Exclusive: Meet Derpuntae - Bermuda's first meme”, in The Bermuda Sun, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2022
- So... complaining about Bermuda being boring/mug on a constant does what exactly?2020 February 4, @makim_ori, Twitter, archived from the original on 07 Jul 2023
Noun (2)
mug (plural mugs)
- Motherfucker (usually in similes, e.g. "like a mug" or "as a mug")
Proper noun capitalized: MUG
MUG
- Abbreviation of Marxist Unity Group
Noun (3) capitalized: Mug
Mug (plural Mugs)
- Alternative form of Magh.
mug meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu
mug in Hindi
- large cup
- डोंगा ḍoṅgā
- to assault for the purpose of robbery
- लूट lūṭ
mug in Marathi
- large cup
- मग mag
- (slang) the face
- थोबडा thobḍā
mug in Telugu
- మగ్ చేయడానికి
More languagesFewer languages
- mug in Malayalam
- മഗ്
- mug in Kannada
- ಮಗ್, ಮಗ್ ಮಾಡಲು
- mug in Assamese
- মগ mog
- mug in Arabic
- كُوب kūb, قَعْب qaʕb
- mug in Malay
- kole, poni, cawan
- mug in Indonesian
- mok
- mug in Vietnamese
- ca
- mug in Myanmar
- မတ်ခွက် mathkwak, ရေခွက် rehkwak
Examples of mug in a sentence
- Perhaps if I told you that there were forty arrests made in one day here, you will realize that with this small equipment available in the Sheriff's Office, it is very difficult to get mugs.1940, United States. Congress Senate, Hearings (volume 13, page 27252)
- "Suppose they had Mugged you?" / "Done what to me?" / "Mugged you.1866 May 5, London Miscellany, page 102:
- Smith displayed a strong sense of comedic timing, mugged for the camera at will, improvised dialogue with alacrity […]1990 September 17, Larry Rohter, “‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ Puts Rap in Mainstream”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- These people are being mugged as they are being arrested but with an entirely inadequate force at work prints have not as yet been made.1940, United States. Congress Senate, Hearings (volume 13, page 27252)
Synonyms of mug
22 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of mug
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | mugs |
| plural | Mugs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | mugs |
| present participle | mugging |
| past participle | mugged |
| past | mugged |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | mugger |
| superlative | muggest |
Origin of mug
Early 16th century (originally Scots and northern English, denoting "earthenware, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), German Low German Muck (“drinking cup”), Dutch mok (“mug”), also of unknown origin. Perhaps related to Old English muga (“stack”) and Old Norse múgr (“mass, heap (of corn)”). Compare also Middle English mug, mog (“a measure of salt”).
Informal variant of motherfucker.
Abbreviation.
Words formed from mug
Phrases with mug
Words that rhyme with mug
23 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about mug
- What does mug mean?
- Mug means a large cup for beverages, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.
- What is mug in Hindi?
- Mug in Hindi is डोंगा (ḍoṅgā), लूट (lūṭ). See Mug meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use mug in a sentence?
- Perhaps if I told you that there were forty arrests made in one day here, you will realize that with this small equipment available in the Sheriff's Office, it is very difficult to get mugs.
- What part of speech is mug?
- Mug can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce mug?
- Mug is pronounced /mʌɡ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of mug?
- The plural of mug is mugs.
Words near mug in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mug (page history and authors); MUG (page history and authors); Mug (page history and authors); mug (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mug (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mug (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mug (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-mug.ogg, en-au-mug.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mug.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mug. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.