snug

English

Etymology

From dialectical English snug (tight, handsome), maybe from Proto-Norse *snaggwu-. Compare Icelandic snöggur (smooth), Old Danish snög (neat), Swedish snygg.

Pronunciation

• enPR: snŭg, IPA: /snʌɡ/, X-SAMPA: /snVg/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Noun

snug (plural snugs)

1. (UK) small, comfortable back room in a pub

Translations

room in a pub

• Finnish: kabinetti (fi)

• Galician: reservado (gl) m
• Irish: clúid (ga) f, cúláisean (ga) m

Related terms

• lounge bar
• public bar
• saloon bar
• vault

Adjective

snug (comparative snugger, superlative snuggest)

1. comfortable; cosy (cozy); satisfactory
   • 1853, Melville, Herman, Bartleby, the Scrivener, in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin Books, 1968; reprint 1995 as Bartleby, ISBN 0146000129, page 2:

     I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause; but, in the cool tranquillity of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds, and mortgages, and title-deeds.

2. close-fitting
3. Close; concealed; not exposed to notice.
   • Jonathan Swift

     Lie snug, and hear what critics say.

Derived terms

• snugly
• snug as a bug in a rug

Synonyms

• cosy (cozy)

Related terms

• snuggle
• snuggly

Translations

comfortable; cosy, cozy

• Finnish: mukava (fi), kodikas (fi)
• Georgian: მყუდრო (ka) (mqudro)
• Hungarian: otthonos (hu), meghitt (hu)

• Italian: confortevole (it)
• Spanish: cómodo (es) m, confortable (es) m and f

close fitting

• Finnish: vartalonmyötäinen, tiukka

• Spanish: ajustado (es) m, ceñido (es) m

Verb

snug (third-person singular simple present snugs, present participle snugging, simple past and past participle snugged)

1. To make secure or snug.
   • 1967, William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, Logan's Run, May 1976 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553025171, page 15:

     He snugged his Gun into its tunic holster, checked the scope on his Follower and left the room.

2. To snuggle or nestle.

Anagrams

• gnus, guns, nugs, sung