shug

See also: Shug

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English shuggen, shoggen, schoggen (“to shake, shake off, mix by shaking, tremble, shake loose from one's clothing”), probably a variant of Middle English schokken (“to move rapidly, shake, push”), from Middle Low German schocken (“to shake, tremble”). See schokken.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃʌɡ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

shug (third-person singular simple present shugs, present participle shugging, simple past and past participle shugged)

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To writhe the body so as to produce friction against one's clothes, as do those who have the itch.
   • 1830, Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury, The Exclusives:

     the Comtesse Leinsengen again shugged her shoulders , drew her shawl around her , and was preparing to depart

2. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To crawl; to sneak.
   • 1621, John Ford, Thomas Dekker, William Rowley, The Witch of Edmonton:

     There I'll shug in and get a noble countenance.

References

• “shug”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Shortening of sugar.

Alternative forms

• sug, shoog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃʊɡ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊɡ

Noun

shug (plural shugs)

1. (countable) A term of endearment.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sweetheart

   I'll be with you in a moment, shug.

Anagrams

• gush, hugs

Scots

Etymology

Ultimately from Old Norse [Term?]. Related to dialectal Norwegian tjukka, kjukka (“thick overcast sky”) (probably related to tjukke).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃʌɡ/

Noun

shug

1. (Shetland) drizzle, fine rain or mist or fog
   • 1897 May 22, Shetland News:

     “Yea, dat am I, daa. He's [It's] a kind o' misty, an’ a shug o' sma’ weet, bit da wind is soodwast noo, an’ der no sae muckle o' Greenland aboot him,” shu replied.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1898 September 17 or 21, Shetland News:

     […] bad twindle i' da sea, an’ be dis time he [it] wis come doon a kind o weet shug[,] sae 'at we lost sight o’ Henderson. Wisna hit Johnnie […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1899 June 3, Shetland Times:

     Arty Boy, doo haes nae hurry. Hes no dat late I never link at he’l be ony maer ram at dis time. I a kind o shug o mist oot o toe him, alto maer rain wid a dune nae laat. It wid a warmed da grand.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1900 August 25, Shetland Times:

     […] some maer sunsheen trow da time it, at we’l never see a blade o ripe corn dia year ava. I harly ever mind sic a time o weet an shug want o sun fae I wis a bairn. Magnie—lt’l maet rippen neist mont, wi da frost da moeniight, bit doot I if da sun does it […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1900 September 8, Shetland Times:

     Meggie—Fir sic a nicht o weet an shug. I wid lippened at we wid haed better wadder dis noo at he’s comin ta hairst time. Osla—We wid haed muckle black need, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1901 March 2, Shetland Times:

     Yea, boy, we saw dat, dir no sayin what he micht come oot o dis weet shug at hist haand, bit I’m lippenin he’l be ill ony time. Osla—Da Loard gaird me, what dey doe pit ida papers. I winder what […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

• Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “SHUG”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume V (R–S), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.

• “shug”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Further reading

• P. Jamieson (1949), Letters (in Scots), section 31: “It was coming down a "shokk a mist," and Lowrie, having taken notice of the dun land before it was blotted out, began reciting the rhymes [as aids to navigation].”