bug
/bʌɡ
/noun
1 informal A harmful microorganism, typically a bacterium: their ham was found to be contaminated with food bugs...
- The saline solution means that any harmful bugs, viruses or bacteria cannot survive, so it is completely hygienic.
- An angry mother has hit out at the state of Central Park Swimming Pool after the council closed it following the discovery of the killer lung bug legionella.
- There were all sort of staph bugs in there tromping on the heart valves.
1.1An illness caused by a microorganism: he’d just recovered from a flu bug...
- Bill Edmunds noticed that his young son seemed always to get a tummy bug right after his teeth had been painted with fluoride.
- They say it's a virus and possibly one of those 24-hour flu bugs.
- One shot may be all your family needs to ward off the flu bug.
Synonyms
illness, ailment, infection, disease, disorder, sickness, affliction, malady, complaint, upset, condition, infirmity, indisposition, malaise;
bacterium, germ, virus, bacillus, microorganism, microbe
British informal lurgy
1.2 [with modifier] An enthusiastic interest in something: they caught the sailing bug...
- When the gardening bug bites you, it usually happens around this time of year - and there will never be a better time than now to start.
- And now even Pidí himself has caught the ice hockey bug.
- Yes, the spring cleaning bug has bitten and God help anyone getting in my way.
Synonyms
obsession, enthusiasm, craze, fad, mania, rage, passion, fixation;
hobby, interest, pastime
informal thing
2chiefly North American A small insect: a thick green scum which crawls with bugs, centipedes, and worse...
- I observed small creatures: ants, bugs, moths, worms, all working their ways, digging in and out of the soil.
- In the middle of the reproductive period most bugs carry eggs.
- Tiny bugs crawled along the bark of ancient-looking trees.
Synonyms
insect, flea, mite, midge
informal creepy-crawly, beastie
British informal minibeast
3 (also true bug) Entomology An insect of a large order distinguished by having mouthparts that are modified for piercing and sucking.
- Order Hemiptera: see Hemiptera.
- The Permian saw the appearance of stoneflies, true bugs, beetles, and caddisflies, among other groups.
- Worldwide, stilt bugs are a relatively small group of unusual hemipterans, or true bugs, in the family Berytidae.
4A concealed miniature microphone, used for secret eavesdropping or recording: they cleaned out the bugs and wiretaps...
- That, according to sources, is a strong indication that it was the FBI's bug and they were the ones that put it there in the first place.
- Other figures, including LBJ and Martin Luther King are observed vicariously through wire taps or electronic bugs.
- He only had the director's word for it that the room was clean of bugs.
Synonyms
listening device, hidden microphone, receiver, transmitter, wire, wiretap, phone tap, tap
informal bugging device
5An error in a computer program or system: a custom program we used developed a bug...
- Worse, it is theoretically impossible to determine whether computer systems are free from programming bugs or nefarious code.
- The game also plays host to a wide array of gameplay bugs and glitches.
- Well, applications are prone to all types of problems, bugs, and errors.
Synonyms
fault, error, defect, flaw, imperfection, failing, breakdown;
virus
informal glitch, gremlin, snarl-up
verb (bugs, bugging, bugged) [with object]
1Conceal a miniature microphone in (a room or telephone) in order to eavesdrop on or record someone’s conversations secretly: the telephones in the presidential palace were bugged...
- The telephone was bugged, and most of the rooms had mini microphones hidden under furniture and behind pictures.
- They enlisted the help of a wire-tapper to bug the star's telephone and bedroom.
- Each capability seems innocuous, but a hidden cellphone with both features can silently and automatically answer calls, establishing a radio link for bugging a room.
1.1Record or eavesdrop on (a conversation) using a concealed microphone: she fears that her conversations were bugged...
- Short herself suspected her own conversations with him were bugged by spies, even while she was conducting them.
- Fair enough security and all that but they, whoever they were, were just as likely to bug the office as to bug their phone calls.
- He is suspected of having reported the bugged conversations to his superiors on a regular basis.
Synonyms
record, tap, listen in on, eavesdrop on, spy on, overhear;
wiretap, tap, monitor, phone-tap
informal snoop on
2 informal Annoy or bother (someone): a persistent reporter was bugging me...
- But that's not what really bugs me about this whole thing.
- I know neither of them would hurt me, but it bugs me.
- The guy's evident discomfort was starting to bug him.
Phrasal verbs
bug off
bug out
Origin
Early 17th century: of unknown origin. Current verb senses date from the early 20th century.
Rhymes
- advance agent
- Advance Australia
- Advance Australia Fair
- advance copy
- advanced
- advanced degree
- advanced gas-cooled reactor
- advanced guard
- advance directive
- advanced level
- advanced passenger train
- heteromerous
- heteromorph
- heteromorphic
- heteromorphism
- heteromorphy
- heteronomous
- heteronomy
- heteronormative
- heteronormativity
- heteronym
- heteronymic
- heteronymous
- heterophyte
- heterophytic