tug
/ˈtʌɡ/ verb C1- To pull or drag with great effort. · The police officers tugged the drunkard out of the pub.
- To pull hard repeatedly. · He lost his patience trying to undo his shoe-lace, but tugging it made the knot even tighter.
- To tow by tugboat.
- To masturbate.
He/she/it tugs · Past tugged · Past participle tugged · -ing form tugging
Verb forms
- Base form
- tug
- He/she/it
- tugs
- Past
- tugged
- Past participle
- tugged
- -ing form
- tugging
From the library
Its tenacious grip plucked at our heels as we walked, and when we sank into it it was as if some malignant hand was tugging us down into those obscene depths, so grim and purposeful was the clutch in which it held us.
The balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it to the ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so much lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise into the sky.
‘You will, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.’ With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with the pain.
It will be the tug of war, you know--the last year before the Entrance.”
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