Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To clasp or hold closely, especially in the arms, as in affection; embrace.
  • intransitive verb To hold steadfastly to; cherish.
  • intransitive verb To stay close to.
  • intransitive verb To embrace or cling together closely.
  • noun A close, affectionate embrace.
  • noun A crushing embrace, as in wrestling.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A close embrace; a clasp or pressure with or as with the arms: as, to give one a hug; the hug of a bear.
  • To crouch; huddle as with cold.
  • To lie close; cuddle.
  • To grasp firmly and completely with the arms; embrace closely; clasp to the breast.
  • To cling to mentally; cherish fondly or fervently; hold fast to: as, to hug delusions.
  • To keep close to: as, to hug the land.
  • To carry, especially with difficulty.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A close embrace or clasping with the arms, as in affection or in wrestling.
  • transitive verb To press closely within the arms; to clasp to the bosom; to embrace.
  • transitive verb To hold fast; to cling to; to cherish.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) To keep close to
  • transitive verb to congratulate one's self; to chuckle.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To cower; to crouch; to curl up.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To crowd together; to cuddle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An affectionate close embrace.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To crouch; huddle as with cold.
  • verb intransitive To cling closely together.
  • verb transitive To embrace by holding closely, especially in the arms.
  • verb transitive To stay close to (the shore etc.)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb squeeze (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness
  • verb fit closely or tightly
  • noun a tight or amorous embrace

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse hugga, to comfort.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From earlier hugge ("to embrace") (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck ("to crouch, huddle down") and Old Norse hugga ("to comfort, console"), from hugr ("courage"), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“mind, sense”), cognate with Icelandic hugga ("to comfort"), Old English hyge ("thought, mind, heart, disposition, intention, courage, pride"). More at Huguenot.

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Examples

Comments

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  • *hug* to the person who reads this.

    July 17, 2009

  • *hug back* to the person that wrote that nine months ago :)

    March 30, 2010

  • Who.

    March 30, 2010

  • *hugs bilby, PossibleUnderscore, zo, and the next person who reads this*

    March 30, 2010

  • If I'm next person to read this, do I get a double hug?

    March 30, 2010

  • *hugs bilby, PossibleUnderscore, zo, the next person who reads this, and bilby, again, unless bilby is the next person to read this, in which case he owes me a Coke*

    March 30, 2010

  • Gimme a hug nile gimmu a Coke.

    March 30, 2010

  • I owe you a *cough* brand-name-cola-with-patented-dynamic-ribbon-device but oroborrowed it.

    March 31, 2010

  • *hugs bilby, PossibleUnderscore, zo, the next person who reads this, bilby again, a brand-name-cola-with-patented-dynamic-ribbon-device, and oroboros*

    March 31, 2010

  • *swoons*

    March 31, 2010

  • Should we perhaps move to group hug?

    March 31, 2010