hug
/hʌɡ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.09 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A close embrace, especially when charged with an emotion such as affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, aggression, compassion, or the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace).
noun
A particular grip in wrestling.
Example Sentences
- "They had a slight breast work, and they hugged down behind it and waited."
- "That is why they are so little known and never explored. During the day, when a Chilean cruiser nosed around uncomfortably close, the little sloop would be hugged under the lee of one of the islands, sail lowered and anchor dropped."
- "bright rocks whose stain of emerald or quartz shaft of shine the starfish hugged beneath the tide ."
- "She put her feet on a rung and hugged down against her knees, making herself even smaller."
- "Zhai Tingshen stood at the window upstairs, his black eyes staring intently at the figure that was tightly hugged below."
- "Billy hugged Danny until he felt better."
Etymology
From earlier hugge (“to embrace, clasp with the arms”) (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck (“to crouch, huddle down”) and Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, console”), from hugr (“mind, heart, thought”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“mind, thought, sense”), cognate with Icelandic hugga (“to comfort”), Old English hyġe (“thought”) (whence high (Etymology 2)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: hugga, *hugiz