hug

HUG/hʌɡ/

Verbhugs, hugging, hugged

Noun pluralhugs

7 meanings of hug

Practice

1
verbtransitivereciprocal
To hold a person or thing closely, usually wrapping your arms around them.
He hugged his daughter tightly at the airport.
Visitors often hug the costumed characters at the theme park.
Similarembrace, hold, cuddle, squeeze, clasp
Note
Two constructions carry this verb. With an object, one person embraces another: Billy hugged Danny until he felt better. Without one, the verb is reciprocal. "They hugged" already means they hugged each other, so adding "each other" is optional. Don't confuse that bare use with the clinging-together sense, which describes pressing close rather than an embrace.
2
nouncountable
A close embrace, especially one charged with strong emotion such as affection, joy, or relief, rather than a formal or half-hearted gesture.
After months apart, their reunion ended in a long, tearful hug.
He greeted each guest with a warm hug at the door.
Similarembrace, cuddle, squeeze
Note
The embrace has a comforting ancestor. English hugge appears in 1560, probably a blend of huck, "to crouch, huddle down," and Old Norse hugga, "to comfort, console," built on hugr, "mind, heart." That heart-word suits a noun whose point is feeling. A hug is wholehearted, which is why a guarded half-embrace gets the diminishing name "little hug."
3
verbtransitive
To stay close to something, following its shape or edge.
The trail hugs the river for several miles before turning inland.
Race cars hug the track through tight corners.
Similarfollow, skirt, trace
Note
Its stock phrases are hug the shore and hug the coastline: keep close to an edge and follow it rather than cut across. Joseph C. Lincoln's Mr. Pratt's Patients (1913) stretches it to a man hugging the stove, keeping near the warmth. The verb can describe a fixed thing too, such as a pier that hugged the shore rather than jutting into the bay, so no movement is required.
4
verbfigurativelytransitive
To hold fast to something, clinging to it or cherishing it.
He hugged his grudge for years, refusing to forgive.
Many people hug the dreams they formed in childhood.
Similarnurse, harbor, cherish, nurture
Note
Figurative hugging can have a stubborn edge: what is hugged is held onto past the point of reason. Joseph Glanvill's Scepsis Scientifica (1665) puts it sharply: "We hug intellectual deformities, if they bear our names." Its objects are things of the mind, such as beliefs, grudges and hopes. When the attachment is plainly fond, cherish is the gentler word.
5
verbintransitive
To press and cling closely together.
The climbers hugged together on the narrow ledge.
Survivors hug close through the long, freezing night.
Similarhuddle, cling, cuddle, snuggle, nestle
6
nouncountable
A particular hold or grip used in wrestling.
The referee paused the bout when the hug trapped both wrestlers.
She broke free from his hug with a sudden twist of her hips.
Similarhold, grip, clinch

Less common meaning

7
verbobsoleteintransitive
To draw oneself into a low, tight huddle, as a person might when feeling cold.
They had a slight breast work, and they hugged down behind it and waited.
1885, M. Quad, Field
She put her feet on a rung and hugged down against her knees, making herself even smaller.
2014, Thomas Gifford, The Cavanaugh Quest
Note
The crouching sense keeps alive huck, "to crouch, huddle down," one half of the blend behind the embracing noun. It usually takes a particle. Men hugged down behind a breastwork in M. Quad's Field, Fort and Fleet (1885), and a woman hugged down against her knees in Thomas Gifford's The Cavanaugh Quest (2014). Though counted obsolete, it still surfaces in fiction. In your own writing, crouch or huddle is the safer choice.

Practice

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Origin

First recorded around 1560 as 'hugge' ('to embrace, clasp with the arms'), the word probably represents a blend of 'huck' ('to crouch, huddle down') and Old Norse 'hugga' ('to comfort, console'). The Old Norse verb came from 'hugr' ('mind, heart, thought'), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz ('mind, thought, sense'), which is cognate with Icelandic 'hugga' and Old English 'hyġe' ('thought').