Bug meaning
An undocumented feature. (That's a joke.)
The definition of a bug is an insect or a defect in something.
An example of bug is a beetle.
An example of bug is something that keeps a computer program from working correctly.
noun
Bug is slang meaning to annoy someone.
An example of bug is a child asking their parent if they're there yet over and over again during a long road trip.
verb
An enthusiasm or obsession.
Got bitten by the writing bug.
noun
An enthusiast or devotee; a buff.
A model train bug.
noun
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An insect belonging to the suborder Heteroptera.
An insect, spider, or similar organism. Not in scientific use.
A persistent error in software or hardware. If the bug is in software, it can be corrected by changing the program code. If the bug is in hardware, a new circuit has to be designed, and the erroneous chip has to be replaced.Although the derivation of bug is generally attributed to a moth that was found squashed between the relays of Harvard University's Mark II electromechanical calculator in the 1940s, the term actually goes back to the 1800s to refer to flaws in mechanical systems. See buggy, bug fix, software bug, broken, Heisenbug and Web bug. Contrast with glitch.A Note from the Author On October 19, 1992, I found my first "real bug." When I fired up my laser printer, it printed blotchy pages. Upon inspection, I found a bug lying belly up in the trough below the corona wire. The printer worked fine after removing it!
An electronic listening device, such as a hidden microphone or wiretap, used in surveillance.
Planted a bug in the suspect's room.
noun
To grow large; bulge.
My eyes bugged when I saw the mess.
verb
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To make (the eyes) bulge or grow large.
verb
A river of eastern Europe rising in southwest Ukraine and flowing about 770 km (480 mi) through Poland to the Vistula River near Warsaw.
A river of southern Ukraine rising in the southwest part and flowing about 853 km (530 mi) generally southeast to the Black Sea.
Any of an order (Hemiptera) of insects with sucking mouthparts and with forewings thickened toward the base, as a water bug or squash bug.
noun
Any small arthropod, esp. if regarded as a pest, as a louse, cockroach, or centipede.
noun
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A defect or imperfection, as in a machine or computer program.
noun
Any microscopic organism, esp. one causing disease; germ or virus.
noun
A tiny microphone hidden to record conversation secretly.
noun
A small, compact automobile.
noun
The weight allowance (5 pounds, or 2.3 kg) granted to an apprentice jockey for one year after the riding of five winners.
noun
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To hide a microphone in (a room, etc.), as for recording a conversation secretly.
verb
To bulge or open wide, as in amazement.
verb
A bugbear; hobgoblin.
noun
River in S Ukraine, flowing southeastward into the Black Sea: 530 mi (853 km)
proper name
River in W Ukraine, flowing northwestward into the Vistula near Warsaw and forming part of the border with Poland: 500 mi (805 km)
proper name
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An enthusiasm for something; an obsession.
I think he’s a gold bug, he has over 10,000 ounces in storage.
To catch the skiing bug.
noun
A small and and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users.
He suspected the image was a web bug used for determining who was visiting the site.
noun
(broadcasting) A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to indicate what network or cable channel is televising it.
Channel 4's bug distracted Jim from his favorite show.
noun
(aviation) A manually positioned marker in flight instruments.
noun
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A semi-automated telegraph key.
noun
To equip (a room or telephone circuit, for example) with a concealed electronic listening device.
verb
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An error in coding or logic that causes a computer software program to malfunction (i.e., perform erratically, suffer catastrophic failure (crash), or produce invalid results. Although the origin of the term bug is somewhat in dispute, folklore dates it the mid-to-late 1940s, when a moth attracted to the light given off by the vacuum tubes of one of the first digital computers, either the Mark I or the ENIAC, died and shorted one of the circuits, causing a system failure. Others attribute the term to Thomas Edison (1878). So much for the etymology of bug. As for entomology, a moth is not a bug, strictly speaking. A true bug has thickened forewings and mouth parts adapted for piercing and sucking, and is of the insect order Hemiptera, which includes aphids, cicadas, and squash bugs. Moths suck, but do not pierce, and belong to the order Lepidoptera, as do butterflies. (Note: There are two kinds of people in this world -those who just love this arcane trivia, and those who hate it. I love it, in moderation. "Arcane trivia" is somewhat tautological, which is a pedantic word for redundant. There are two types of people in this world -- those who love pedants and those who hate them. I hate them.) By the way, a bug fix is in the form of a patch, update, upgrade, or insecticide, depending on the type of bug involved. See also bug fix; Edison,Thomas Alva; entomology; etymology; and pedant.
Defined nowadays as a programming error in a software program and usually having undesirable effects, the term allegedly stems from a real insect that was found to have disturbed operations in one of the early computer systems.
put a bug in (someone's) ear
- To impart useful information to (another) in a subtle, discreet way.
idiom
bug off
- To stop annoying someone and leave.
idiom
bug out
- To run away; desert.
idiom
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Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of bug
- Perhaps alteration (influenced by obsolete bug hobgoblin bugbear) of Middle English boude, budde beetle, weevil from Old English -budda as in scearnbudda dung beetle Low German dialectal budde louse
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda (see scearnbudda (“dung beetle”)), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô (compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud.
From Wiktionary
- Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”), from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin”, “snot”)
From Wiktionary