peg

See also Peg, and PEG

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Saxon *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡ

Noun

peg (plural pegs)

1. A cylindrical wooden, metal etc. object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
2. A protrusion used to hang things on.
3. (cribbage) A peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
4. (finance) A fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold
5. (UK) A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.
   • 1953, S. S. Field, The American drink book‎, page 65:

     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.

6. A place formally allotted for fishing

Synonyms

• (small quantity of strong liquor): shot

Related terms

terms related to peg (noun)

clothes peg

tent peg

Translations

a cylindrical object

Finnish: tappi (fi)

French: cheville (fr) f.

a protrusion used to hang things on

Finnish: naula (fi) (esp. for clothes), tappi (fi)

French: porte-manteau (fr) m., patère (fr) f.

(cribbage)

German: Stift (de) m.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: gancho m.

Verb

peg (third-person singular simple present pegs, present participle pegging, simple past and past participle pegged)

1. To fasten using a peg.

   Let's peg the rug to the floor.

2. 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. To narrow the cuff openings of a pair of pants so that the legs take on a peg shape.
4. To throw.
5. 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.)

   He's been pegged as a suspect.

   I pegged his weight at 165.

6. (cribbage) To move one's pegs to indicate points scored.
7. (slang) To reach or exceed the maximum value on a scale or gauge.

   We pegged the speedometer across the flats.

8. (slang, typically in heterosexual contexts) To engage in anal sex by penetrating one's male partner with a dildo
   • 2007, Violet Blue, The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Strap-On Sex^[1], ISBN 157344278X, page 32:

     When you're pegging him and he gets close to orgasm, you'll observe a number of physical signs […]

Related terms

• level pegging
• peggable
• pegging
• pegged pants

See also

• wedge, cf. Latin cuneus
• cone, cf. Latin conus
• cunny, cunt, cf. Latin cunnus
• (cribbage): muggins

Anagrams

• EPG

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Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /paj/, [pʰɑjˀ]

Verb

peg

1. imperative of pege

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Middle English

Noun

peg

1. peg