peg

Noun (1)

peg (plural pegs)

1. A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
2. A protrusion used to hang things on.
   • Hang your coat on the peg and come in.
3. (figuratively) A support; a reason; a pretext.
   • a peg to hang a claim upon
4. (cribbage) A peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
5. A fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold.
   • The following became obvious quite quickly – the cryptosphere needed a nonvolatile peg.2022, Simon Dingle, Steven Boykey Sidley, chapter 7, in Beyond Bitcoin, Icon Books, →ISBN
6. (UK) A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.
   • This over, the club will be visited for a "peg," Anglice drink.1898, unknown author, Harper's Magazine
   • The name had come to mean any aromatic essence of herbs by the time the first thirsty colonial poured a peg of Who-shot-John into his mint water.1953, S. S. Field, The American drink book, page 65

   Synonyms:

   shot

7. A place formally allotted for fishing
8. (colloquial, dated) A leg or foot.
   • "Now I'm cleaned up for thee: tha's no 'casions ter stir a peg all day, but sit and read thy books."1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 2, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC
9. One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained.
   • O, you are well tuned now! / But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
   • Did we form ourselves, choosing, and our powers? I find myself, for one, as a stringed instrument with chords and stops - but I have no power to turn the pegs, or pitch my thoughts to a higher or lower key.1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC
10. A step; a degree.
    • to screw papal authority to the highest pega. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn]...
    • We still have worsted all your holy tricks; / Trepann'd your party with intrigue, / And took your grandees down a peg[…]1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished...
11. A topic of interest, such as an ongoing event or an anniversary, around which various features can be developed.
    • […] all news media keep a supply of features on hand, waiting for a peg to make them topical.2004, Herbert J. Gans, Deciding What's News
    • Journalists and prospective sources wishing to attract their attention are constantly on the lookout for pegs. The process by which a peg is identified is informed by news values.2010, Barbie Zelizer, Stuart Allan, Keywords in News and Journalism Studies, page 111
12. (slang) A stump.
    • Lindy hit the pegs with five deliveries out of six.1961, Colin McCool, Cricket is a Game, page 123

Verb

peg (third-person singular simple present pegs, present participle pegging, simple past and past participle pegged)

1. (transitive) To fasten using a peg.
   • Let's peg the rug to the floor.
2. (transitive) To affix or pin.
   • I found a tack and pegged your picture to the bulletin board.
   • She lunged forward and pegged him to the wall.
3. (transitive) To fix a value or price.
   • China's currency is no longer pegged to the American dollar.
   • 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.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51
4. (transitive) To narrow the cuff openings of a pair of pants so that the legs take on a peg shape.
5. (slang, transitive) To throw.

   Synonyms:

   fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, chunk, cook, dash, dump, feck

6. (transitive) To throw a ball at (someone), to hit (someone) with a ball.
7. (slang, transitive) To indicate or ascribe an attribute to; to classify or pigeonhole someone.
   • He's been pegged as a suspect.
   • I pegged his weight at 165.
8. (cribbage) To move one's pegs to indicate points scored; to score with a peg.
   • She pegged twelve points.
9. (slang, transitive) To reach or exceed the maximum value on (a scale or gauge).
   • We pegged the speedometer across the flats.
10. (slang, transitive) To engage in anal sex by penetrating with a strap-on dildo.
    • When you're pegging him and he gets close to orgasm, you'll observe a number of physical signs […]2007, Violet Blue, The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Strap-On Sex, →ISBN, page 32
11. (intransitive) To keep working hard at something; to peg away.
    • 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 […]1911, William Montgomerie Lamont, Volunteer memories, page 160
12. (archaic, slang) To drink alcohol frequently, especially brandy and soda; to tipple.
13. (UK, obsolete, slang, transitive) To drive (a hackney carriage).
    • 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.2014, Robert Newman, The Case of the Somerville Secret

Noun (2) capitalized: PEG

PEG (countable and uncountable, plural PEGs)

1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of polyethylene glycol.
2. (abbreviation, obsolete) Abbreviation of pneumoencephalography
3. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.
4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of price/earnings to growth.
   • PEG ratio
5. (abbreviation, initialism, uncountable) Initialism of public, educational, and government (access television).
6. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of parsing expression grammar.
   • This is a form of grammar called a Parsing Expression Grammar (PEG). PEGs use a different form of grammar which can handle most context-free situations and some context-sensitive ones.2010, Martin Fowler, Domain-Specific Languages, Pearson Education, →ISBN
7. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of pyroelectric generator.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Peg

IPA/pɛɡ/

Peg

1. (diminutive) Diminutive of Margaret.
2. (abbreviation, clipping) Clipping of Peggy.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Peg

IPA/pɛɡ/

Peg

1. (Canada, abbreviation, clipping, slang) Clipping of Winnipeg (city), usually preceded by "the".
   • I just got back from the Peg.