rug

Etymology

Uncertain; probably of North Germanic origin; perhaps inherited via Middle English *rugge (suggested by Middle English ruggy (“hairy, shaggy, bristly”) and rugged (“hairy, shaggy, rugged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“shagginess, tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”), related to English rag and rough. Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rugga (“coarse coverlet”), Swedish rugg (“rough entangled hair”), related to English rag and rough. Compare also Old English rȳhe (“rug, rough covering, blanket”).

noun

1. A partial covering for a floor.
2. (UK, Australia) A (usually thick) piece of fabric used for warmth (especially on a bed); a blanket.
   They then cut down a quantity of gum-tree leaves for a bed, and threw their rugs upon them ready for bed-time. 1855, William Howitt, A Boy′s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia: or, Herbert′s Note-Book, page 254
   Furnish every sleeping apartment with a sufficient number of toilet utensils and bedsteads, and sufficient bedding so that each bed shall be provided with a mattress, two sheets, a rug, and, in winter time, not less than one additional rug. July 27 1906, Government Gazette of Western Australia, page 2297
   1950 April, Dental Journal of Australia, Volume 22, page 181, My own son had a bunny rug of which he was very fond and on being put to bed he would always demand his “bunny rug to suck his finger with.″
   1958, Arthur Hailey, John Castle. Runway Zero-Eight. Bantham Books She tucked in a rug round the woman. “How’s that?” The woman nodded gratefully.
   He brought with him a rug and a sheet, and lay down by the fire. 1997, Alan Sharpe, Vivien Encel, Murder!: 25 True Australian Crimes, page 22
3. (historical, now rare) A kind of coarse, heavy frieze, formerly used for clothing.
4. (historical, now rare) A cloak or mantle made of such a frieze.
5. (obsolete, rare) A person wearing a rug.
6. A cloth covering for a horse.
7. (obsolete, rare) A dense layer of natural vegetation that precludes the growth of crops.
8. (slang) The female pubic hair.
9. A rough, woolly, or shaggy dog.
10. (slang) A wig; a hairpiece.
11. (colloquial) A dense growth of chest hair.
12. (US, slang, ethnic slur) Short for rughead.
    We're the motherfuckers be fightin' when the rugs [black prisoners] start wasting people around here. 1980, John Irwin, Prisons in Turmoil, page 212

verb

1. (transitive) To cover with a rug.
   It stands to reason that because of the difference in climate the necessity for rugging a horse in Australia would vary considerably from that in cold countries like England […] 1966, Margaret I. Clarke, Care of the Horse and Pony, page 45
2. (Scotland, archaic) To pull roughly or hastily; to plunder; to spoil; to tear.

adj

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) snug; cosy