snug

English

Etymology

From dialectal English snug (“tight, handsome”), maybe from Proto-Norse *snaggwuz. Compare Icelandic snöggur (“smooth”), Danish snög (“neat”), Swedish snygg.

Pronunciation

• enPR: snŭg, IPA^(key): /snʌɡ/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Adjective

snug (comparative snugger, superlative snuggest)

1. Warm and comfortable; cosy.

   I felt snug tucked up in my snug bed.

   • 1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, The Caxtons: A Family Picture - Volume 1:

     Now, if in a stage coach in the depth of winter, when three passengers are warm and snug, a fourth, all besnowed and frozen, descends from the outside and takes place amongst them, straightway all the three passengers shift their places, […]

   • 1853, Melville, Herman, Bartleby, the Scrivener, in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin Books, 1968; reprint 1995 as Bartleby, →ISBN, 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. Satisfactory.
   • 1853, Melville, Herman, Bartleby, the Scrivener, in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin Books, 1968; reprint 1995 as Bartleby, →ISBN, 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.

3. Close-fitting.
4. Close; concealed; not exposed to notice.
   • (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Lie snug, and hear what critics say.

Synonyms

• (warm and comfortable): comfy, cosy/cozy, cushy, gemütlich
• (satisfactory): acceptable, good enough; see also Thesaurus:satisfactory
• (close-fitting): clingy, figure-hugging, form-fitting; see also Thesaurus:close-fitting
• (concealed): covered, tect; see also Thesaurus:hidden

Derived terms

• snuggish
• snugly
• snug as a bug in a rug

Related terms

• snuggle
• snuggly

Translations

comfortable; cosy, cozy

• Esperanto: komforta
• Finnish: mukava (fi), kodikas (fi)
• French: confortable (fr), douillet (fr)
• Georgian: მყუდრო (ka) (mq̇udro)
• Greek: άνετος (el) (ánetos)
• Hungarian: otthonos (hu), meghitt (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: confortevole (it)
• Maori: kauāwhiawhi, āhuru
• Portuguese: confortável (pt)
• Russian: уютно (ru) (ujutno)
• Spanish: cómodo (es) m, confortable (es) m or f

close fitting

• Finnish: vartalonmyötäinen, tiukka (fi)
• German: enganliegend (clothing); passgenau (engineering)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakapiri
• Spanish: ajustado (es) m, ceñido (es) m

Noun

snug (plural snugs)

1. (British) A small, comfortable back room in a pub.
2. (engineering) A lug.

Translations

room in a pub

• Finnish: kabinetti (fi)
• Galician: reservado m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Hinterraum m; gemütlicher Hinterraum m; gemütliche Ecke f; Separee (de) n
• Irish: clúid f, cúláisean m

See also

• lounge bar
• public bar
• saloon bar
• vault

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To make secure or snug.
   • 1967, William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, Logan's Run, May 1976 Bantam edition, →ISBN, 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.
3. (transitive) To make smooth.

Anagrams

• Ngus, Sung, Ungs, gnus, guns, nugs, sung