fug

Etymology 1

Unknown. Compare British slang fogo (“stench”) and English fog, or possibly a blend of funk + fog.

noun

1. A heavy, musty, stuffy or unpleasant atmosphere, usually in a poorly-ventilated area.
   'Made one quite thankful to get back to the fug, though as a rule I think the way these trains are overheated is something scandalous'. 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 131
   On certain days, when hot currents shimmered off Oyster's Reef, we would detect the chalk-dust of the mullock heaps, acrid; or, from the opal mines themselves, the ghastly fug of the tunnels and shafts. 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 4
   The gym teacher left that year, his successors had no interest in boxing, and society soon passed into a zone where the idea of thirteen-year-old boys punching each other's faces for educational purposes became as unthinkable as the dense fug of tobacco smoke in our school's staff room. November 8 2004, John Derbyshire, “Boxing Day”, in National Review
   That's what a fug was. You could have cut cubes out of the air and sold it for cheap building material. 2008, Terry Pratchett, Going Postal, page 288
   Inside, though, the little café was warm and bright, with a comforting fug of tea and baked bread and cakes. 2013, Benjamin Black, Elegy for April
2. (figurative) A state of lethargy and confusion; daze.
   So delicious after the fug of summer. It makes one feel so alive. 2011, Olivia Manning, The Spoilt City: The Balkan Trilogy 2
   Somewhere in the fug of her mind she remembered how to close it and fetched the pole, slotting it into the mechanism above and beginning to turn the handles. 2015, Kate Riordan, The Girl in the Photograph
3. (figurative) A state of chaos or confusion.
   There was a fug of fear in the room. 2002, Chris Beckett, “Marcher”, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection
   Viewed from this perspective, the Victorian era reeks of a suffocating and bigoted complacency, and, no doubt, many white imperialists existed in a fug of self-righteous superiority. 2006, Colin Kidd, The Forging of Races
   But now am in total fug about what to text Roxster about tonight, and whether I should tell him about the nits. 2013, Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy, page 7
   Her translations are dimmed over with a fug of late eighteenthcentury poetic diction, a striving for sublimity or for sentimental effect. 2014, Robert Anthony Welch, The Cold of May Day Monday: An Approach to Irish Literary History

verb

1. To create a fug (heavy unpleasant atmosphere).
   Inside, the Golden Lion was fugged with the smoke of too many cigarettes and the unhappy sound of a darts team practising. 2008, Antony Moore, The Swap, page 231
   I'd walked down, for maybe the last time, from my lodgings behind New Fish Street, through air already fugged with smoke from the morning fires. 2012, Phil Rickman, The Heresy of Dr Dee
   The rich sewer gases fugged around her and she shook her head, trying to clear it. 2013, Tom Pollock, The Glass Republic: The Skyscraper Throne
2. To be surrounded by a fug (heavy unpleasant atmosphere).
   Well, I like it a jolly sight better than fugging up in those carriages with all that gassing crowd of Garden Home fussers. 1921, Everybody's Magazine - Volume 44, page 38
   The air was warm and close and the late afternoon sun was fugging through grey clouds and making them light - still grey, but light, really light. 2005, Craig Taylor, Light, page 74
3. To put into a fug (daze).
   The adrenalin, though diminished, was still running through my veins; the red mist was lifting but my mind was fugged by this unfamiliar combination of hormones, slowly intermingling with indignity and contrition and the dawning of familiar, ignominious defeat. 2011, Richard Herring, How Not to Grow Up!: A Coming of Age Memoir. Sort Of., pages 34–35
4. To remain indoors, usually understood as being in a tightly closed room.

Etymology 2

Sound shift from fuck.

intj

1. Euphemistic form of fuck.
   It's always somethin' or other. Ah, fug it. I'm away now. 1985, Herbert A. Applebaum, Blue Chips, Brunswick Pub. Co., page 126
   Oh fug. Whad a mess. 2012, Drew Campbell, Dead Letter House
   “Why is this door locked?” she shouts. “Oh fug!” 2015, Lynn Lindquist, Secret of the Sevens

verb

1. Euphemistic form of fuck.
   1. Used to express displeasure.
      He knew he would never eat them; they were merely an added load in his pack. Aaah, fug this. 1948, Norman Mailer, Naked Dead, page 692
      Scornfully the driver answered, "Fug you muthafug, you ain't gon drive this muthafuggin cah." 1969, Seymour Blicker -, Blues Chased a Rabbit, page 62
      "Fug this place," Jeff said. "Let's go to the pier in case that jerk comes back with a gun." 2005, Joe Taylor, The World's Thinnest Fat Man: Stories, page 82
   2. To damage or destroy.
      Zit my fault the rotary fugged up and the new one's buggered? 2007, Paul Mitchell, Dodging the Bull: Stories, page 51
      You mean like in Zola–because they were fugged up in their turn by their parents. 2010, Julian Barnes, Metroland, page 39
      Tell them every detail, so they can find an Apprentice again, because if they don't, they're fugged.” 2013, J. Michael Shell, The Apprentice Journals, page 7
      He did an imitation of Big Jerry in full-choke cantankerousness: “'You'll just fug it up.' 2013, Jonathan Miles, Want Not, page 33
   3. To copulate with.
      All went well until girls started writing things like, 'I want to win a date with Tuli because I want him to fug me.' 2014, Richie Unterberger, Urban Spacemen & Wayfaring Strangers
      Married, two children, doesn't let him fug her any more. 2016, Julian Barnes, Metroland, page 10

noun

1. Euphemistic form of fuck.
   1. (singular only, with the) Used as an intensifier.
      I don't know jes where the fug he think he is at. 1961, Robert Gover, One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding, page 21
      How the fug does a thug like you know about any preacher? 2013, Dan Ferullo, Monster Hill
      I mean, who the fug cares? 2013, Ian McDonald, Out on Blue Six
   2. Something of little value.
      I didn't know what any of it meant and didn't give a fug either. 2013, Anne Lazurko, Dollybird
      After a short pause, Jay proclaimed, “I don't give a fug what you wave in fronna me. I'm sticking to my story.” 2013, Dan Ferullo, Monster Hill
   3. A contemptible person.
      Look at those fugs! 1942, Army and Navy Journal - Volume 80, Issues 1-26, page 345
      'You bein' there an' him bein' there an' you such a fug of a loser an' him such a fug of a winner . . .' 2012, Elizabeth George, The Edge of Nowhere