BUG (bugged, bugging)
Dictionary entry overview: What does bug mean?
• BUG (noun)
The noun BUG has 5 senses:
1. general term for any insect or similar creeping or crawling invertebrate
2. a fault or defect in a system or machine
3. a small hidden microphone; for listening secretly
4. insects with sucking mouthparts and forewings thickened and leathery at the base; usually show incomplete metamorphosis
5. a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
Familiarity information: BUG used as a noun is common.
• BUG (verb)
The verb BUG has 2 senses:
1. annoy persistently
2. tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information
Familiarity information: BUG used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
• BUG (noun)
Meaning:
General term for any insect or similar creeping or crawling invertebrate
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
insect (small air-breathing arthropod)
Meaning:
A fault or defect in a system or machine
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
glitch; bug
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
defect; fault; flaw (an imperfection in a device or machine)
Meaning:
A small hidden microphone; for listening secretly
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
microphone; mike (device for converting sound waves into electrical energy)
Meaning:
Insects with sucking mouthparts and forewings thickened and leathery at the base; usually show incomplete metamorphosis
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Synonyms:
hemipterous insect; hemipteron; hemipteran; bug
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
insect (small air-breathing arthropod)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bug"):
leaf bug; plant bug (small bright-colored insect that feeds on plant juices)
lygaeid; lygaeid bug (a true bug: usually bright-colored; pest of cultivated crops and some fruit trees)
coreid; coreid bug (a true bug)
bed bug; bedbug; chinch; Cimex lectularius (bug of temperate regions that infests especially beds and feeds on human blood)
backswimmer; Notonecta undulata (predaceous aquatic insect that swims on its back and may inflict painful bites)
true bug (any of various insects of the order Hemiptera and especially of the suborder Heteroptera)
Holonyms ("bug" is a member of...):
Hemiptera; order Hemiptera (plant bugs; bedbugs; some true bugs; also includes suborders Heteroptera (true bugs) and Homoptera (e.g., aphids, plant lice and cicadas))
Meaning:
A minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Synonyms:
microbe; germ; bug
Hypernyms ("bug" is a kind of...):
micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)
• BUG (verb)
Meaning:
Annoy persistently
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
tease; pester; bug; beleaguer; badger
Context example:
The children teased the boy because of his stammer
Hypernyms (to "bug" is one way to...):
bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They bug him to write the letter
Meaning:
Tap a telephone or telegraph wire to get information
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
wiretap; bug; intercept; tap
Context examples:
The FBI was tapping the phone line of the suspected spy / Is this hotel room bugged?
Hypernyms (to "bug" is one way to...):
eavesdrop; listen in (listen without the speaker's knowledge)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sentence example:
They want to bug the prisoners
