peg

plural pegs

1. A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
2. A protrusion used to hang things on.

   Hang your coat on the peg and come in.

3. figurativelyA support; a reason; a pretext.

   a peg to hang a claim upon

4. cribbageA peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
5. businessA fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold.

   The following became obvious quite quickly – the cryptosphere needed a nonvolatile peg.

   2022, Simon Dingle, Steven Boykey Sidley, chapter 7, in Beyond Bitcoin, Icon Books, →ISBN

6. UKA small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.

   This over, the club will be visited for a "peg," Anglice drink.

   1898, unknown author, Harper's Magazine

   1 more example

   The name had come to mean any aromatic essence of herbs by the time the first thirsty colonial poured a peg of Who-shot-John into his mint water.

   1953, S. S. Field, The American drink book, page 65

   Synonyms: shot

7. A place formally allotted for fishing
8. colloquialdatedA leg or foot.

   "Now I'm cleaned up for thee: tha's no 'casions ter stir a peg all day, but sit and read thy books."

   1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 2, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

9. One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained.

   O, you are well tuned now! / But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

   1 more example

   Did we form ourselves, choosing, and our powers? I find myself, for one, as a stringed instrument with chords and stops - but I have no power to turn the pegs, or pitch my thoughts to a higher or lower key.

   1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC

10. A step; a degree.

    to screw papal authority to the highest peg

    a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC

    1 more example

    We still have worsted all your holy tricks; / Trepann'd your party with intrigue, / And took your grandees down a peg[…]

    1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC

11. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of clothes peg.
12. journalismA topic of interest, such as an ongoing event or an anniversary, around which various features can be developed.

    […] all news media keep a supply of features on hand, waiting for a peg to make them topical.

    2004, Herbert J. Gans, Deciding What's News

    1 more example

    Journalists and prospective sources wishing to attract their attention are constantly on the lookout for pegs. The process by which a peg is identified is informed by news values.

    2010, Barbie Zelizer, Stuart Allan, Keywords in News and Journalism Studies, page 111

13. slangball gamesA stump.

    Lindy hit the pegs with five deliveries out of six.

    1961, Colin McCool, Cricket is a Game, page 123

14. slangThe penetration during anal sex using a strap-on dildo.

    Get your strap-on out and give me a nice peg!

15. archaicslangA serving of brandy and soda.

    I then ordered a "peg" (brandy-and-soda) to be brought to my tent, and returned to have a smoke before turning in again.

    1894, Arthur Travers Crawford, Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official, page 183

16. IndiaA serving of any hard spirit, particularly whisky.

    This is the sort of drinking that Anna Hazare fought to eradicate from Ralegan Siddhi, as Colonel Phatak explained, after I joked about an army man needing his evening peg of whisky before dinner.

    2008 September 2, Daniel Lak, India Express: The Future of the New Superpower, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN

17. UKobsoleteslangA shilling.

    The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

    1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90

18. human sciencesAn easily recalled image that a person mentally visualizes with something else, in order to remember that other thing. See mnemonic peg system.

    Multiple items can be stored at each location or with each peg.

    2023, W. Scott Terry, Learning and Memory: Basic Principles, Processes, and Procedures, page 168

    1 more example

    To remember this list of early psychologists, you recall each peg along with its image of an early psychologist that you placed there.

    2013, Rod Plotnik, Haig Kouyoumdjian, Introduction to Psychology

present singular third person pegs · participle present pegging · participle past pegged · past pegged

1. transitiveTo fasten using a peg.

   Let's peg the rug to the floor.

2. transitiveTo affix or pin.

   She lunged forward and pegged him to the wall.

   1 more example

   I found a tack and pegged your picture to the bulletin board.

3. transitiveTo fix a value or price.

   China's currency is no longer pegged to the American dollar.

   1 more example

   Wages absorbed 80% of the total revenue (which was inescapable), and they were rising at almost twice the rate of fares, which were pegged by law.

   2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51

4. transitiveTo narrow the cuff openings of a pair of pants so that the legs take on a peg shape.
5. slangtransitiveTo throw.

   Synonyms: fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, chunk, cook, dash

6. transitiveTo throw a ball at (someone), to hit (someone) with a ball.
7. slangtransitiveTo indicate or ascribe an attribute to; to classify or pigeonhole someone.

   I pegged his weight at 165.

   4 more examples

   He's been pegged as a suspect.

   Bolan pegged his weight somewhere around 150 pounds. If he was armed, the weapon wasn't showing. Still, the Executioner would take no chances.

   1997, Don Pendletone, Patriot Gambit, page 84

   You got me pegged wrong, Captain.

   2015 November 23, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, “Dulcinea”, in The Expanse, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Jim Holden (Steven Strait)

   The man had me pegged—I was already planning to visit the next day, having received a similar tip from multiple friends.

   2026 June 28, Katie Thornton, “Love Language: The undying dream of Esperanto”, in Harper's Magazine, →ISSN

8. cribbageTo move one's pegs to indicate points scored; to score with a peg.

   She pegged twelve points.

9. slangtransitiveTo reach or exceed the maximum value on (a scale or gauge).

   We pegged the speedometer across the flats.

10. slangtransitiveTo engage in anal sex by penetrating with a strap-on dildo.

    When you're pegging him and he gets close to orgasm, you'll observe a number of physical signs […]

    2007, Violet Blue, The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Strap-On Sex, →ISBN, page 32

11. intransitiveTo keep working hard at something; to peg away.

    For more than the period of his splendid service in India, which the country was not slow to acknowledge, the Volunteers had kept pegging at it, despite all the official obstacles thrown in the way […]

    1911, William Montgomerie Lamont, Volunteer memories, page 160

12. archaicslangTo drink alcohol frequently, especially brandy and soda; to tipple.
13. UKobsoleteslangtransitiveTo drive (a hackney carriage).

    I was pegging a hack when the horse started limping. I got down to see if he'd picked up a stone and he lashed out at me.

    2014, Robert Newman, The Case of the Somerville Secret

1. A female given name.
   1. diminutiveDiminutive of Margaret.
   2. abbreviationclippingClipping of Peggy.

alternative 'Peg

1. CanadaabbreviationclippingslangClipping of Winnipeg (city), usually preceded by "the".

   I just got back from the Peg.

plural PEGs

1. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablechemistryAcronym of polyethylene glycol.
2. abbreviationcountableobsoleteuncountablemedicineAbbreviation of pneumoencephalography
3. abbreviationcountableinitialismmedicineInitialism of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.
4. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of price/earnings to growth.

   PEG ratio

5. abbreviationinitialismuncountableInitialism of public, educational, and government (access television).
6. abbreviationcountableinitialismcomputerInitialism of parsing expression grammar.

   This is a form of grammar called a Parsing Expression Grammar (PEG). PEGs use a different form of grammar which can handle most context-free situations and some context-sensitive ones.

   2010, Martin Fowler, Domain-Specific Languages, Pearson Education, →ISBN

7. abbreviationcountableuncountableAbbreviation of pyroelectric generator.