thug
noun
- common criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, often for hire
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /θʌɡ/ / /θɐɡ/ / /θʊɡ/
noun
Etymology: Borrowed from Hindustani ठग (ṭhag) / ٹھگ (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”), further derived from Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga), of uncertain origin. See there for more. Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling and beating their victims to death. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat, and cruel robber" by 1839. Perhaps related to English thatch, deck.
- A person who is a member of a gang or criminal organization.
- A violent, aggressive, or truculent person.
“They call you a land of license—free but to thug and thief.”
“Every summer brought the prospect of the dragonships snaking their way upriver, each vessel filled with thirty or more rapacious thugs.”
- A criminal that extorts people.
- A person who use intimidation to coerce others.
- One of a band of assassins formerly active in northern India who worshipped Kali and sacrificed their victims to her.
- One who, usually as a result of social disadvantage, has turned to committing crimes (e.g. selling drugs, robbery, assault, etc.) to make a living; a gangsta.
- An overvigorous plant that spreads and dominates the flowerbed.
- A wooden bat used in the game of miniten, fitting around the player's hand.
verb
Etymology: Borrowed from Hindustani ठग (ṭhag) / ٹھگ (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”), further derived from Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga), of uncertain origin. See there for more. Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling and beating their victims to death. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat, and cruel robber" by 1839. Perhaps related to English thatch, deck.
- To commit acts of thuggery, to live the life of a thug, to menace, to commit crime.
“Mr. Ingleby ascertained at the office—after threading the mazes of passage and staircase as though he expected momently to be Thugged—that his nephew had not yet come.”
“The report then records the arrest of the whole force of the union paper, the Victor Record, the forced resignation of many other civil officers in the Cripple Creek district who were in sympathy with the miners, […] the severe thugging of many of the well-known labor organizers,”
- (often with out) To appear as a thug; to dress and act in a manner reminiscent of a thug.
“I don’t thug out, but I’m not Wall Street, either. Russell Simmons and Puffy have clothes for this look in the affordable range.”
“Oh. Besides Allen Iverson, basketball players don’t be thugged out enough for me. I like me a roughneck.”