Forms: see TUG v.; also 5 teug. [f. TUG v.]
1. An act or the action of tugging; a forcible or violent pull; a severe strain or drag.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxiii. 81. The tarsall gaif him tug for tug.
1635. Quarles, Embl., IV. iii. 28. The idle vessell slides that watry lay, Without the blast, or tug, of wind, or Oare.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, IX. 759. Downward by the feet he drew The trembling dastard: at the tug he falls.
1754. Mrs. Delany, in Life & Corr. (1861), III. 307. Lady Harriet had a tooth drawn by Rutter,… and he gave three tugs before he got it out!
1815. Hist. J. Decastro, IV. 111. The door stuck to the posts so fast that I was forced to take three or four good tugs at it before it would come open.
1886. Fenn, Master of Cerem., xiv. Morton felt a tug at his line.
2. † Labor, toil (obs. rare); esp. a determined effort to accomplish or attain something; a hard try; a struggle; a ‘go.’
1504. Plumpton Corr. (Camden), 191. It ryseth on my owne mynd to give over grett tuggs of husbandry which I had, and take me to lesse charge.
1673. Ld. Conway, in Essex Papers (Camden), I. 141. I shall yet have a tug for the Mr of the Ordnance place.
1764. Mem. G. Psalmanazar, 84. I … found it a very hard tug to keep up my credit.
1856. Bryant, Autumn Woods, xii. The vain low strife That makes men mad—the tug for wealth and power.
3. A strenuous contest between two forces or persons.
1660. Gower, in 5th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. (1876), 204/1. The only tug is between Episcopacy and Presbytery.
1830. Scott, Demonol., i. 11. Amid the mortal tug of combat.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. viii. 269. On this day … William began that career of … good fortune in the mere tug of battle.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 8 Dec., 2/3. The tug of will between the overbearing Kaiser and his hitherto subservient people.
b. Tug of war. (a) The decisive contest; the real struggle or tussle; a severe contest for supremacy. (b) An athletic contest between two teams who haul at the opposite ends of a rope, each trying to drag the other over a line marked between them. Also attrib.
1677. N. Lee, Alex. Gt., IV. ii. When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.
1822. Byron, Juan, VIII. li. At last [the mob] takes to weapons … Then comes ‘the tug of war.’
1876. World, V. No. 108. 13. The tug of war … was the most popular item in Saturday’s entertainment.
1893. E. H. Barker, Wand. Southern Waters, 263. He [the devil] therefore lost no time in entering upon a tug-of-war with the saintly interloper.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 6 June, 7/1. Their tug-of-war team pulled over two teams of British Tommies.
4. In harness: a. (Chiefly pl.) A pair of short chains attached to the hames, by which the collar is connected with the shafts. b. A trace. c. A short strap sewn on various parts of the harness and serving to keep it in position; also (pl.) the loops of the back-strap which support the shafts. d. A metal stud or pin on the shaft to prevent it running too far forward through the loops of the back-strap. e. See quot. 1844. Also locally applied to other parts of harness: see quot. 1888.
[c. 1250. MS. Barlow 49 (2) lf. 16. In carucis … emendandis…. In iugis et tuggis ad idem emptis ix. d.]
1417–8. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1881), XXXVIII. 78. Item in vij Teugys, xij d.
1481–3. Acc. Exch. K. R., File 496 No. 26. Tuggis et hamis.
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 96. Tugges for horsharnesse, ij baskettes.
1562. Bulleyn, Bulwark, Dial. Soarnes & Chir., 7 b. Banishe them from Chyrurgi, commende them to the Carte. To the flaile and the rake, the trace and the togge.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiii. (Arb.), 281. Which word tugge … signifieth the pull or draught of the oxen or horses, and therefore the leathers that beare the chiefe stresse of the draught, the cartars call them tugges.
1786. Burns, To Auld Mare, xi. Thou was a noble fittie-lan’, As e’er in tug or tow was drawn!
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. x. 134. Tugs to hold up the traces. Ibid., 135. The hipstrap … buckles to the tugs of the breeching to hold it up. Ibid., 147. In the middle [of each of a pair of hames] other loops are hung, to which the tugs for the draught are fixed.
1808–18. Jamieson, Tug, raw-hide, of which formerly plough-traces were made.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 695. The pace of the old horse should be subdued … by the rein and tug; which the short reins are called, that pass from the head of one horse to the collar of the other.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4708. The collars, hames, and tugs are suited to give the horse the least fatigue in drawing the vehicle.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Tug,… the hook or other iron on the carriage, or on the whipple-tree, to which the trace is attached…. The end of the leather trace at the part where it is attached to the vehicle…. A loose loop buckled round the shaft, to which (when used) is fastened the kicking-strap.
f. Mining. The iron hoop of a corf or hoisting bucket.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Tug,… a hoop of iron to hold a tackle.
1877. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Tug (Derb.), the iron hook of a boisting bucket, to which the tacklers are attached.
5. A timber-wagon. south. and east. dial.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tug,… a Country-Word for a Waggon to carry Timber.
1724. De Foe, Tour Gt. Brit., I. 59. I have seen one tree on a carriage which they call here [Lewes] a tug, drawn by two and twenty oxen.
1791. Gilpin, Forest Scenery, I. 116. A sort of wain, which in that deep country [Sussex], is expressively called a tugg.
1829. Hor. Smith, New Forest, I. i. 3. A timber-wain, in Hampshire called a tug.
6. A small, stoutly built, and powerful steamer used to tow other vessels; a tug-boat.
1817. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 101. This vessel,… appropriately named the Tug, is meant to track ten other vessels…. The utility of the Tug is not confined to tracking.
1840. Evid. Hull Docks Comm., 73. You use the tug to tow them from the harbour.
1908. [Miss Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 12. The smoke of a tug drawing vessels.
7. Phrases. † To hold tug, (also hold a tug), to hold one tug, to keep one strenuously occupied, or fully engaged; in tug, † upon a tug, in conflict or contest (with).
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., I iv. Whiche twoo pretie poyntes [for discussion] helde them tugge with hard holde vntill … aboute dinner tyme.
1659. Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 317. The debate held such tug that it was moved to adjourn.
1667. Wood, Life, 18 July (O.H.S.), II. 113. There was work enough … that would hold him tugg for a whole yeare.
1672. Westminster Drollery, II. 94. No Tankerd, Flaggon, Bottle, nor Jugg … so well can hold Tugg.
1681. R. L’Estrange, Apol. Prot., IV. i. 99. The Popes were at that time upon a Tugg with the Emperor.
1700. Motteux, Quix., I. IV. iv. II. 398. The Barber held tugs with her till the Curate advis’d him to return it.
1791. Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), I. 355. Lafayette will hold a good tug, being as cunning as any body.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xx. She had seen from the window Tartar in full tug with two carriers’ dogs.
8. attrib. and Comb.: in sense 6, as tug-boat (whence tug-boatman), -captain, -man, -master, -owner, -service, -steamer, -traffic; also tug-like adj.; tug-buckle, a trace-buckle; tug-carrier, each of a pair of loops through which the tugs or traces pass (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877); tug-chain, a chain trace; also a short chain by which a leather trace is attached to the splinter-bar (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); tug-hole: cf. sense 4 f; tug-hook, a hook on the hame to which the trace is attached; tug-iron: see quot.; tug-plate: see quot.; † tug-rope, a trace of rope; tug-slide, a tongueless trace-buckle: cf. SLIDE sb. 6; tug-spring, a spring connection for traces to reduce the strain of starting a load; tug-strap, a leather trace; tug-whiting, a whiting caught by a hand-line (Sc.). See also TUGWITHE.
1820. Glasgow Herald, 27 Oct., 4/4. The Samson *tug-boat, Active, Industry, Trusty, and Despatch, for carrying Goods.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., vi. (ed. 3), 44. A kind of tugboat for vessels which have occasion to ascend the rapid.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 73. One ship was … waiting to be towed out by the tugboat.
1891. Daily News, 3 Feb., 3/5. The tug-boatmen who struck on Friday at Liverpool were still out yesterday.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 359. His foreman … says to me, ‘Give that *tug-buckle a file.’
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4686. Set of carriage harness, with improved tug buckles.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 26 May, 4/3. A *tug captain from Limehouse was called by the police.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 18. Should the corves be made to draw by conductors, the chains … from the center of the *tug hole to the center of the ring that connects them, should measure 221/2 inches.
1417–8. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1881), XXXVIII. 78. Item in *Teughookys, vij d.
1844. W. Barnes, Poems Rur. Life, Gloss., *Tugiron of shafts, an iron on the shafts [of a wagon] to hitch the traces to.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 155. Energetic people have certain advantages. Their *tuglike, unremitting habit of doing something keeps the machine going.
1891. Scott. Leader, 24 Jan., 6. Over 80 per cent. of the *tugmen at Liverpool have joined the Sailors’ Union.
1896. Pall Mall Mag., Nov., 386. The responsibilities and anxieties of a *tug-master.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 26 Aug., 5/2. They were *tug-owners, and worked the ferry between Hobbs’s Point and the Neyland Ordnance Stores.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. Gloss., *Tug Plate, a plate, fixed on the shafts, in which the tugs of a one horse harness is placed.
1417–8. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1881), XXXVIII. 78. Item in cordis vocatis *Teugropis, viijd.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Tug-slide … *Tug-spring.
1861. Wheat & Tares, 252. *Tug steamers flashed hither and thither, panting and groaning with their heavy train of stone-laden barges.
1882. Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., s.v. Breast-strap, The breast-collar … at its rear ends receives the *tug-straps.
1906. Daily Tel., 1 Feb. The Thames and London Rowing Clubs … have never complained of the general, business *tug-traffic.
a. 1670. Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (1851), II. 174. About this tyme [1642], sum *tug-quhytinges [were] takin.
