| English Dictionary |
BUG (bugged, bugging)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, bugging Dictionary entry overview: What does bug mean?
• BUG (noun)
The noun BUG has 5 senses:
1. general term for any insect or similar creeping or crawling invertebrate
2. a fault or defect in a computer program, system, or machine
3. a small hidden microphone; for listening secretly
4. insects with sucking mouthparts and forewings thickened and leathery at the base; usually show incomplete metamorphosis
5. a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
Familiarity information: BUG used as a noun is common.
• BUG (verb)
The verb BUG has 2 senses:
1. annoy persistently
2. tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information
Familiarity information: BUG used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
General term for any insect or similar creeping or crawling invertebrate
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
insect (small air-breathing arthropod)
Derivation:
buggy (infested with bugs)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A fault or defect in a computer program, system, or machine
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
bug; glitch
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
defect; fault; flaw (an imperfection in an object or machine)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A small hidden microphone; for listening secretly
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
mic; microphone; mike (device for converting sound waves into electrical energy)
Derivation:
bug (tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Insects with sucking mouthparts and forewings thickened and leathery at the base; usually show incomplete metamorphosis
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Synonyms:
bug; hemipteran; hemipteron; hemipterous insect
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
insect (small air-breathing arthropod)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bug"):
leaf bug; plant bug (small bright-colored insect that feeds on plant juices)
lygaeid; lygaeid bug (a true bug: usually bright-colored; pest of cultivated crops and some fruit trees)
coreid; coreid bug (a true bug)
bed bug; bedbug; chinch; Cimex lectularius (bug of temperate regions that infests especially beds and feeds on human blood)
backswimmer; Notonecta undulata (predaceous aquatic insect that swims on its back and may inflict painful bites)
true bug (any of various insects of the order Hemiptera and especially of the suborder Heteroptera)
Holonyms ("bug" is a member of...):
Hemiptera; order Hemiptera (plant bugs; bedbugs; some true bugs; also includes suborders Heteroptera (true bugs) and Homoptera (e.g., aphids, plant lice and cicadas))
Sense 5
Meaning:
A minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Synonyms:
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it bugs Past simple: bugged
Past participle: bugged
-ing form: bugging
Sense 1
Meaning:
Annoy persistently
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
badger; beleaguer; bug; pester; tease
Context example:
The children teased the boy because of his stammer
Hypernyms (to "bug" is one way to...):
bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They bug him to write the letter
Sense 2
Meaning:
Tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
Context example:
Is this hotel room bugged?
Hypernyms (to "bug" is one way to...):
eavesdrop; listen in (listen without the speaker's knowledge)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sentence example:
They want to bug the prisoners
Derivation:
bug (a small hidden microphone; for listening secretly)
Context examples
When the bug bites you, usually on your face, it leaves behind infected waste.
(Chagas Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
The parasite life cycle involves hematophagous reduviid bugs as vectors.
(Chagas Disease Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)
Some, including crayfishes, live in freshwater habitats; others (e.g., sand fleas, land crabs, and sow bugs) live in moist terrestrial environments.
(Crustacean, NCI Thesaurus)
He does not eat the bugs and flies, then why does he seek after them? I do not know. Only do I know that he is a funny white man.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Our garbage can include such hazardous wastes as old batteries, bug spray cans and paint thinner.
(Hazardous Waste, Environmental Protection Agency)
He's in with all the big bugs.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The disease is transmitted by triatomine bugs ‒ blood-sucking insects known by several different names in Latin America (chinche, chirimacha and barbero, among others).
(Açaí fruit can transmit Chagas disease, SciDev.Net)
How we bathed our poor bodies in its delicious warmth, reviving like bugs and crawling things after a storm.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
USDA-Agricultural Research Service scientists have identified coconut oil fatty acids that have strong repellency and long-lasting effectiveness against ticks, biting flies, mosquitoes and bed bugs.
(Coconut Oil Compounds Repel Insects Better than DEET, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
The JAMA article concludes that ultimately, a preventive vaccine could be the only sustainable solution to a fast-changing bug that has proven adept at developing resistance.
(Vaccine for Meningitis Shows Some Protection Against Gonorrhea, VOA)
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