tug

Etymology

From Middle English tuggen, toggen, from Old English togian (“to draw, drag”), from Proto-West Germanic *togōn, from Proto-Germanic *tugōną (“to draw, tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Cognate with Middle Low German togen (“to draw”), Middle High German zogen (“to pull, tear off”), Icelandic toga (“to pull, draw”). Related to tow.

verb

1. (transitive) To pull or drag with great effort.
   The police officers tugged the drunkard out of the pub.
2. (transitive) To pull hard repeatedly.
   He lost his patience trying to undo his shoe-lace, but tugging it made the knot even tighter.
3. (transitive) To tow by tugboat.
4. (slang, transitive, intransitive) To masturbate.

noun

1. A sudden powerful pull.
   But Van Persie slotted home 40 seconds after the break before David Wheater saw red for a tug on Theo Walcott. September 24, 2011, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport
2. (nautical) A tugboat.
3. (obsolete) A kind of vehicle used for conveying timber and heavy articles.
   Cattiwi came down the steep lane with his five-horse timber-tug 1910, Rudyard Kipling, Simple Simon
4. A trace, or drawing strap, of a harness.
5. A dog toy consisting of a rope, often with a knot in it.
6. (mining) An iron hook of a hoisting tub, to which a tackle is affixed.
7. (slang) An act of male masturbation.
   He had a quick tug to calm himself down before his date.