peg

Etymology

From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Swedish pigg (“tooth, spike”), Danish pig (“spike”), Norwegian Bokmål pigg (“spike”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”). Related to beak. This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic. Proto-Germanic *p, when not in a consonant cluster beginning with *s, developed by Grimm's law from the Proto-Indo-European consonant *b, which was very rare. (To indicate or ascribe an attribute to):: Assumed to originate from the use of pegs or pins as markers on a bulletin board or a list.

noun

1. A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
2. A protrusion used to hang things on.
   Hang your coat on the peg and come in.
3. (figurative) A support; a reason; a pretext.
   a peg to hang a claim upon
4. (cribbage) A peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
5. (finance) A fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold.
   The following became obvious quite quickly – the cryptosphere needed a nonvolatile peg. 2022, Simon Dingle, Steven Boykey Sidley, chapter 7, in Beyond Bitcoin, Icon Books
6. (UK) A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.
   This over, the club will be visited for a "peg," Anglice drink. 1898, unknown author, Harper's Magazine
   The name had come to mean any aromatic essence of herbs by the time the first thirsty colonial poured a peg of Who-shot-John into his mint water. 1953, S. S. Field, The American drink book, page 65
7. A place formally allotted for fishing
8. (colloquial, dated) A leg or foot.
9. One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained.
10. A step; a degree.
11. Ellipsis of clothes peg.
12. (journalism) A topic of interest, such as an ongoing event or an anniversary, around which various features can be developed.
    […] all news media keep a supply of features on hand, waiting for a peg to make them topical. 2004, Herbert J. Gans, Deciding What's News
    Journalists and prospective sources wishing to attract their attention are constantly on the lookout for pegs. The process by which a peg is identified is informed by news values. 2010, Barbie Zelizer, Stuart Allan, Keywords in News and Journalism Studies, page 111
13. (cricket, slang) A stump.
    Lindy hit the pegs with five deliveries out of six. 1961, Colin McCool, Cricket is a Game, page 123
14. (slang) The penetration of one's (male) partner in the anus using a strap-on dildo.
    Get your strap-on out and give me a nice peg!
15. (slang, archaic) A serving of brandy and soda.
    I then ordered a "peg" (brandy-and-soda) to be brought to my tent, and returned to have a smoke before turning in again. 1894, Arthur Travers Crawford, Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official, page 183
16. (India) A serving of any hard spirit, particularly whisky.
    This is the sort of drinking that Anna Hazare fought to eradicate from Ralegan Siddhi, as Colonel Phatak explained, after I joked about an army man needing his evening peg of whisky before dinner. 2008-09-02, Daniel Lak, India Express: The Future of the New Superpower, St. Martin's Press
17. (UK, slang, obsolete) A shilling.
    The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence. 1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90
18. (psychology) An easily recalled image that a person mentally visualizes with something else, in order to remember that other thing. See mnemonic peg system.
    To remember this list of early psychologists, you recall each peg along with its image of an early psychologist that you placed there. 2013, Rod Plotnik, Haig Kouyoumdjian, Introduction to Psychology
    Multiple items can be stored at each location or with each peg. 2023, W. Scott Terry, Learning and Memory: Basic Principles, Processes, and Procedures, page 168

verb

1. (transitive) To fasten using a peg.
   Let's peg the rug to the floor.
2. (transitive) To affix or pin.
   I found a tack and pegged your picture to the bulletin board.
   She lunged forward and pegged him to the wall.
3. (transitive) To fix a value or price.
   China's currency is no longer pegged to the American dollar.
   Wages absorbed 80% of the total revenue (which was inescapable), and they were rising at almost twice the rate of fares, which were pegged by law. March 8 2023, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51
4. (transitive) To narrow the cuff openings of a pair of pants so that the legs take on a peg shape.
5. (transitive, slang) To throw.
6. (transitive, kickball) To throw a ball at (someone), to hit (someone) with a ball.
7. (transitive, slang) To indicate or ascribe an attribute to.
   He's been pegged as a suspect.
   I pegged his weight at 165.
8. (cribbage) To move one's pegs to indicate points scored; to score with a peg.
   She pegged twelve points.
9. (transitive, slang) To reach or exceed the maximum value on (a scale or gauge).
   We pegged the speedometer across the flats.
10. (slang, transitive, typically in heterosexual contexts) To engage in anal sex by penetrating (one's male partner) with a strap-on dildo.
    When you're pegging him and he gets close to orgasm, you'll observe a number of physical signs […] 2007, Violet Blue, The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Strap-On Sex, page 32
11. (intransitive) To keep working hard at something; to peg away.
    For more than the period of his splendid service in India, which the country was not slow to acknowledge, the Volunteers had kept pegging at it, despite all the official obstacles thrown in the way […] 1911, William Montgomerie Lamont, Volunteer memories, page 160
12. (slang, archaic) To drink alcohol frequently, especially brandy and soda; to tipple.