bugs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of bug.

   The garden was full of bugs after the heavy rain.

   Software testers logged dozens of bugs before the release.

   Note

   The plural is regular, but this spelling also serves as the verb form meaning "annoys" and a slang word for "crazy". Among the plural's own meanings, the zoology splits sharply. To an entomologist, bugs are only the Hemiptera, the "true bugs". In everyday American use the word takes in spiders, centipedes and nearly anything that crawls. Moreton Bay bugs and mudbugs are not insects at all but crustaceans.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of bug.

   The constant buzzing bugs everyone in the office.

   Her little brother bugs her whenever she's on the phone.

   Note

   One -s form serves all of the verb's meanings, and they divide by whether an object follows. With an object, it means annoys (the noise bugs me) or fits a hidden microphone (the agency bugs the embassy). Without one, it means bulges, or acts strangely enough to irritate others. The annoying senses are informal. The surveillance sense is neutral and sits comfortably in a news report.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Crazy or mentally unstable; behaving in an irrational way.

   After three days lost in the woods, she was half bugs with fear.

   The whole crowd went bugs when the home team scored in overtime.

   Similarcrazy, nuts, bananas, mad, bonkers

   Oppositesane

   Note

   Slang that looks like a plural noun but works as an adjective. It compares with more and most rather than taking an ending. It usually follows a verb, as in going bugs or half bugs, rather than standing before a noun. Its tone is light and joking, nowhere near clinical, so keep it out of serious talk about mental illness.

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