pup

P3U1P3
/pʌp/

noun

A young dog, wolf, fox, seal, bat or shark, or the young of certain other animals.

“The new teacher is a mere pup.”

Similar
SPUAAlpha Canis Majoris BSirius Bα Canis Majoris Bα CMa Bwhelppuppy
Less commonScrabble 7

Meanings

pup1

nounpup (plural pups)

plural pups

  1. A young dog, wolf, fox, seal, bat or shark, or the young of certain other animals.

    The dog has had that bed since he was just a pup.

  2. A young, inexperienced person.

    The new teacher is a mere pup.

  3. Any cute dog, regardless of age.

    My pup likes to run as fast as he can, yet cannot always stop in time!

  4. A short semi-trailer used jointly with a dolly and another semi-trailer to create a twin trailer.
  5. agricultureA new plant growing from a shoot that can be used for propagation.
  6. broadcastingA kind of small spotlight.

    Spots were also used for the foreground, usually the smaller type like a “pup,” which could be repositioned quickly for different setups.

    2003, Christopher Neame, Rungs on a Ladder: Hammer Films Seen Through a Soft Gauze, page 23
    1 more example

    For a scene like the Highgate exhumation night sequence suitable equipment would consist of: two brutes on Molevators, three 10 K lights also on Molevators and, for good measure, two 5 Ks, four 2 Ks, two pups (1000 W), two North lights […]

    1976, A. Arthur Englander, Paul Petzold, Filming for Television, page 191
  7. USjournalismAn early edition of a periodical publication, intended for distribution to distant locations.
  8. slanglifestyleSomeone who participates in pup play (the sexual practice of role-playing as a young dog).

    Mentorship, I learned from the Fog City pups, plays a huge role in their family business, where the pack hierarchy comes into play.

    2019 February 5, Mike Miksche, “Teaching Young Dogs Old Tricks”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun 2024
    2 more examples

    It could be any dude, as long as you really want to fuck him. It could be a... a twink, a bear, an otter, a circuit queen, a chub, a pup, a gipster, a daddy chaser, a leatherman, a ladyboy, a Donald Duck. Donald Duck's a gay guy who's been kicked out of the Navy.

    2017 April 23, “Success Failure”, in Silicon Valley, season 4, episode 1, spoken by Russ Hanneman (Chris Diamantopoulos)

    (Pups are apparently different from "furries," who dress up in animal suits. And they are both different from "bunnies," which the author didn't explain and which I have neither heart nor stomach to Google.)

    2019 April 29, Christie Blatchford, “Christie Blatchford: What ’puppy play’ enthusiasts do behind closed doors shouldn’t be for our reading pleasure”, in National Post, Toronto, Ont.: Postmedia Network Canada Corp., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Jun 2024
  9. chiefly AlaskaA small tributary or feeder stream in the US state of Alaska.

    [...] stream gravels of Bear Pup are auriferous for a distance of at least 2 miles above its mouth.

    1913, Alfred Hulse Brooks, Mineral Resources of Alaska, page 289
    3 more examples

    At last we reached the head of Young creek, and following a "pup" stream we worked out way over a third divide and down into the great Chitina valley.

    1917, Hunter-trader-trapper, volume 34, page 15

    […] the Iditarod district . None appear in the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names (27) and presumably are local pups or streams whose terminology is not currently used.

    1987, Andreas H. Vassiliou, Donald M. Hausen, David J. T. Carson, Process Mineralogy VII: Applications to Mineral ..., page 225

    […] covered, not by the main stream many meters to the east, but by silt moving downslope from the west. […] It is common [to find] bones at the juncture of such side feeder systems, or "pups," as they are called locally. I have found that extant wild sheep (Ovis dalli) bones occur in similar pup streams in areas that today serve as winter ranges for sheep. […]

    2013, R. Dale Guthrie, Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe
verbpup (third-person singular simple present pups, present participle pupping, simple past and past participle pupped)

present singular third person pups · participle present pupping · participle past pupped · past pupped

  1. intransitiveTo give birth to pups.

PUP2

nounPUP (plural PUPs)

plural PUPs

  1. abbreviationacronymcomputingAcronym of potentially unwanted program, software that most computer users do not want on their computers, such as adware.
  2. businessPaid up
  3. biochemistryProkaryotic ubiquitin-like protein
proper nounPUP (countable and uncountable, plural PUPs)

plural PUPs

  1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableUnicodeInitialism of Private Use Plane: either of the two Unicode planes (planes 15 and 16) reserved for private use.
  2. UKabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablegovernmentInitialism of Progressive Unionist Party.
  3. UKabbreviationcountablehistoricalinitialismuncountablegovernmentInitialism of Protestant Unionist Party.

Pup3

proper noun
  1. informalastronomyA white dwarf star, the secondary star in the binary star system Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris.

    Synonyms: Alpha Canis Majoris B, Sirius B, α Canis Majoris B, α CMa B

Synonyms & antonyms

proper nounA white dwarf star, the secondary star in the binary star system Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris.

Similar
Alpha Canis Majoris BSirius Bα Canis Majoris Bα CMa B

More synonyms by meaning

nounyoung of any of various canines such as a dog or wolf

Similar
Broader
young mammal

nounan inexperienced young person

Similar
Broader
young personyouthyounker

verbgive birth to (a puppy)

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

pup · noun, verb

Clipping of puppy.

Full word history & related roots →

Pup · proper noun

Capitalization of pup. From pups being small dogs. From being a small star next to the Dog Star.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic جَرْو, غَلْو
  • جَرْو (jarw)young dog, etc.
  • غَلْو (ḡalw)young dog, etc.
  • هِجْرِس (hijris)young dog, etc.
Bengali কুত্তার বাচ্চা
  • কুত্তার বাচ্চা (kuttar bacca)young dog, etc.
Bulgarian ку́ченце, младо́к
  • ку́ченце (kúčence)young dog, etc.
  • младо́к (mladók)young, inexperienced person
  • ку́ченце (kúčence)cute dog
  • оку́чвам (okúčvam)to give birth to pups
  • оку́ча (okúča)to give birth to pups
Estonian kutsikas, penikas
  • kutsikasyoung dog, etc.
  • penikasyoung dog, etc.
  • koerapoegyoung dog, etc.
  • kutsayoung dog, etc.
  • kutsikasyoung, inexperienced person
  • nooryoung, inexperienced person
  • jungayoung, inexperienced person
  • kutsucute dog
  • poegimato give birth to pups
  • pudenemato give birth to pups
  • ilmale toomato give birth to pups
  • sünnitamato give birth to pups
Finnish pentu
  • pentuyoung dog, etc.
French chiot
  • chiotyoung dog, etc.
German Welpe, werfen
  • Welpeyoung dog, etc.
  • werfento give birth to pups
  • jungento give birth to pups
Hindi पिल्ला
  • पिल्ला (pillā)young dog, etc.
Hungarian kutyus
  • kutyuscute dog
Italian cucciolo
  • cuccioloyoung dog, etc.
Norwegian Bokmål valp, selunge
  • valpyoung dog, etc.
  • selungeyoung dog, etc.
Polish szczenić
  • szczenićto give birth to pups
Portuguese filhote
  • filhoteyoung dog, etc.
Punjabi ਕਤੂਰਾ
  • ਕਤੂਰਾ (katūrā)young dog, etc.
Romanian cățel, cățeluș
  • cățelyoung dog, etc.
  • cățelușyoung dog, etc.
  • noviceyoung, inexperienced person
  • cățelușcute dog
  • fătato give birth to pups
Russian щено́к, щено́к
  • щено́к (ščenók)young dog, etc.
  • щено́к (ščenók)young, inexperienced person
  • щениться (ščenitʹsja)to give birth to pups

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with pup

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

pup. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pup

MLA

“pup.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pup. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pup,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pup.

Source: pup on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.