- The definition of a mug is a heavy drinking cup that usually has a handle, or a slang term for the face or mouth.
- An example of a mug is a cup for drinking coffee.
- An example of a mug is a frown.
- Mug is defined as to attack someone, particularly to rob him or her, or is slang for making faces in front of the camera.
- An example of mug is to steal a person's wallet.
- An example of mug is for a little boy to make a scary face while his mom is taking his picture.
- a heavy drinking cup of earthenware or metal, having a handle and formerly often ornamented with a human face
- as much as a mug will hold
- the face
- the mouth
- a grimace
- a rough, ugly person; ruffian, thug, etc.
- ☆ mug shot
Origin of mugprobably ; from Scandinavian as in Swedish mugg
transitive verbmugged, mugging
- to assault usually with intent to rob
- ☆ Slang to photograph; esp., to photograph (a person under arrest) for police records
- to assault a person, usually with intent to rob
- to make a grimace
- Theater to overact by exaggerated facial expressions
- A heavy cylindrical drinking cup usually having a handle.
- The amount that such a cup can hold.
Origin of mugPerhaps of Scandinavian origin.
- Informal a. The human face.b. The area of the human mouth, chin, and jaw.c. A grimace.d. A mug shot.
- A thug; a hoodlum.
- Chiefly British Slang A victim or dupe.
verbmugged mugged, mug·ging, mugs
- Informal To photograph (a person's face) for police files.
- To threaten or assault (a person) with the intent to rob: arrested the thief who mugged the tourists.
Origin of mugProbably from mug1 (possibly in allusion to mugs decorated with grotesque faces).
(third-person singular simple present mugs, present participle mugging, simple past and past participle mugged)
- 1857, "The Leary Man", in Anglicus Ducange, The Vulgar Tongue
- And if you come to fibbery, You must Mug one or two,
- 1866, London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 102
- "Suppose they had Mugged you?" / "Done what to me?" / "Mugged you. Slogged you, you know."
- To assault for the purpose of robbery.
- (intransitive) To exaggerate a facial expression for communicative emphasis; to make a face, to pose, as for photographs or in a performance, in an exaggerated or affected manner.
- The children weren't interested in sitting still for a serious photo; they mugged for the camera.
1560s ("bowl, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug"), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks"), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug"), also of unknown origin. "Face" sense possibly from grotesque faces on certain drinking vessels. "Assault" sense of verb possibly from hitting someone in the face.