rug

plural rugs

1. A partial covering for a floor.First known use 1624
2. AustraliaUKA (usually thick) piece of fabric used for warmth (especially on a bed); a blanket.First known use 1591

   1958, Arthur Hailey, John Castle. Runway Zero-Eight. Bantham Books She tucked in a rug round the woman. “How’s that?” The woman nodded gratefully.

   4 more examples

   They then cut down a quantity of gum-tree leaves for a bed, and threw their rugs upon them ready for bed-time.

   1855, William Howitt, A Boy′s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia: or, Herbert′s Note-Book, page 254

   Furnish every sleeping apartment with a sufficient number of toilet utensils and bedsteads, and sufficient bedding so that each bed shall be provided with a mattress, two sheets, a rug, and, in winter time, not less than one additional rug.

   1906 July 27, Government Gazette of Western Australia, page 2297

   1950 April, Dental Journal of Australia, Volume 22, page 181, My own son had a bunny rug of which he was very fond and on being put to bed he would always demand his “bunny rug to suck his finger with.″

   He brought with him a rug and a sheet, and lay down by the fire.

   1997, Alan Sharpe, Vivien Encel, Murder!: 25 True Australian Crimes, page 22

3. archaichistoricalA kind of coarse, heavy frieze, formerly used for clothing.First known use 1547

   They spin the choicest rug in Ireland. A friend of mine […] repaired to Paris Garden clad in one of these Waterford rugs.

   1577, Raphaell Holinshed; Richarde Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “The Historie of Irelande […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC

4. archaichistoricalA cloak or mantle made of such a frieze.First known use 1577
5. obsoleterareA person wearing a rug.First known use 1627
6. A cloth covering for a horse.First known use 1790
7. obsoleterareA dense layer of natural vegetation that precludes the growth of crops.First known use 1792
8. slangThe female pubic hair.First known use 1893

   Synonyms: carpet, mat

9. A rough, woolly, or shaggy dog.
10. slangA wig; a hairpiece.First known use 1940

    1 more example

    The intervening years have been kind to Edward Fox and John Wells, who now assume the principal roles, in allowing them to keep their full complement of hair. Mr Fox shows his gratitude by using his rug as a prop, flopping it forward, Welsh-combing it back, letting it stand up on end as if from shock, while Mr Wells is content mostly to let his limply swathe his forehead.

    1985 July 12, Martin Cropper, “Theatre: The Philanthropist”, in The Times, number 62,188, London, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15, column 7

    Synonyms: toupee, wig

11. colloquialA dense growth of chest hair.First known use 1954
12. USabbreviationellipsisethnicslangslurEllipsis of rughead.

    We're the motherfuckers be fightin' when the rugs [black prisoners] start wasting people around here.

    1980, John Irwin, Prisons in Turmoil, page 212

present singular third person rugs · participle present rugging · participle past rugged · past rugged

1. transitiveTo cover with a rug.

   It stands to reason that because of the difference in climate the necessity for rugging a horse in Australia would vary considerably from that in cold countries like England […]

   1966, Margaret I. Clarke, Care of the Horse and Pony, page 45

2. ScotlandarchaicTo pull roughly or hastily; to plunder; to spoil; to tear.

   “this was a job in the auld times o'rugging and riving through the hale country[…]”

   1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC

3. abbreviationclippingClipping of rug pull

plural Rugs

1. slangshort form of Rugbeian