bug

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For more information on bug, visit Britannica.com.

noun

1. A minute organism usually producing disease: germ, microbe, microorganism. See beings.
2. A minor illness, especially one of a temporary nature: ailment, complaint, indisposition, malady. See health/sickness.
3. Something that mars the appearance or causes inadequacy or failure: blemish, defect, fault, flaw, imperfection, shortcoming. See beautiful/ugly, better/worse, help/harm/harmless.
4. A person who is ardently devoted to a particular subject or activity: devotee, enthusiast, fanatic, maniac, zealot. Informal buff, fan, fiend. Slang freak, nut. See concern/unconcern.

verb

1. To trouble the nerves or peace of mind of, especially by repeated vexations: aggravate, annoy, bother, chafe, disturb, exasperate, fret, gall, get, irk, irritate, nettle, peeve, provoke, put out, rile, ruffle, vex. Idioms: get in one's hair, get on one's nerves, get under one's skin. See feelings, pain/pleasure.
2. To monitor (telephone calls) with a concealed listening device connected to the circuit: tap, wiretap. See investigate.

Idioms beginning with bug:
bug off

See also cute as a button (bug's ear); put a bug in someone's ear; snug as a bug in a rug; what's eating (bugging) you.

Definition: bother, disturb
Antonyms: not bother

"Indeed," George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, "some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to prey upon the leaves before I left home." The father of our country was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that entry, Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and we Americans had already created Lightning Bug (1778). But the English were soon to get rid of the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

We got bug in our ears in other ways too. The American bug could also be a person, an enthusiast or fanatic, as the Congressional Globe records in 1841: "Mr. Alford of Georgia warned the 'tariff bugs' of the South that...he would read them out of church." And although fan became the usual term, sports enthusiasts were racing bugs (1908), baseball bugs (1911), and the like. And a bug could be just plain insane (1884), confined to a bughouse (1899).

Or the bug could be a small machine or object: a telegraph key (1929); a clip used by a card sharp to hold cards under the table (1883); even a car, the small, bug-shaped, trademarked Volkswagen beetle (1960). The bug could also be a burglar alarm (1926), from which comes the expression to bug, that is, originally "to install an alarm," now a surveillance device like a hidden microphone. Since the 1840s to bug has long meant "to cheat," and since the 1940s it has been annoying.

We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning traces back long before computers to the laboratory of inventor Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as "little faults and difficulties" that require "months of anxious watching, study and labor" to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison "had been up the two previous nights discovering 'a bug' in his phonograph."

Don't bug us for more definitions, or we'd have to fill the whole book with bugs.

(DOD) 1. A concealed microphone or listening device or other audiosurveillance device. 2. To install means for audiosurveillance.

1. bug
   noun, Brit, schoolboys'
   
   A boy; usu. with defining word. (1909 —) .
   J. Rae You're new, Curlew, and new bugs should be seen and not heard (1960).
   
2. bug
   verb intr., mainly US
   
   To get out; to make off; to leave quickly; to scram. (1953 —) .
   Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia). He also said that Canada is not 'bugging out' of NATO (1969).
   Guardian If you happen to be a worker, a homosexual, a woman, a Hispanic, you can bug off. Bush is playing to ITT, IBM, ATT, Dow Chemical, GM (1992).
   
   [Origin uncertain.]

• General Technology - bug: error, esp. in program
• Parts, Practices, and Argot - bug: Slang. telegraph instrument; Slang. switchman’s light
• Radios and Radio Technology - bug: Informal. hidden radio transmitter
• Card Terms
• Sound, Hearing, and Deafness - bug: hidden, electronic listening device
• Appearance or Style
• Fusses and Troubles
• Secrecy and Concealment - bug: concealed device for eavesdropping
• Violent Actions - bug: Slang. bother, annoy

Dansk (Danish)
n. - væggelus, lille insekt
v. intr. - flygte, skride
v. tr. - skjule mikrofon, aflytte

Nederlands (Dutch)
bijtend torretje (b.v. luis), insectje (b.v. kakkerlak), virus, afluisterapparaat, mankement, liefhebber(ij), irriteren, afluisteren, er vandoor gaan, uitpuilen (ogen)

Français (French)
n. - bestiole, punaise, insecte, microbe, défaut, inconvénient, (Comput) erreur, bogue, micro (caché), (US) petite voiture, coccinelle, (fig) virus, (US) mordu de
v. intr. - poser des micros dans, embêter qn
v. tr. - brancher sur table d'écoute, poser/installer des micros (cachés) dans, embêter qn

idioms:

• bug off    (US) foutre le camp, paniquer (arg)
• bug out    (US) foutre le camp

Deutsch (German)
n. - Käfer, Insekt, Bazillus, Wanze, Macke
v. - reizen, beunruhigen, abhören

idioms:

• bug off    schnell weggehen
• bug out    Leine ziehen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κοριός, μαμούνι, ζωύφιο, μικρόβιο, ιός, (καθομ.) κρυμμένο μικρόφωνο παρακολούθησης, κοριός, (μτφ.) μανία, βίδα, σφάλμα προγράμματος Η/Υ
v. - παγιδεύω με "κοριό", παρακολουθώ, ενοχλώ, δαιμονίζω

Italiano (Italian)
dare fastidio, irritare, difetto, insetto, microbo

idioms:

• bitten by the bug    aver la mania di...

Português (Portuguese)
n. - inseto (m), defeito (m) (coloq.)
v. - grampear (o telefone) (gír.), irritar (gír.)

idioms:

• bitten by the bug    interesse (m) forte mas passageiro em algo

Русский (Russian)
раздражать, дефект, ошибка (в программе), клоп, подслушивающее устройство, микроб, пунктик

idioms:

• bitten by the bug    помешанный на чем-либо

Español (Spanish)
n. - defecto, imperfección, tacha, escarabajo, bicho, chinche, microbio
v. intr. - causar irritación, fastidio o malestar
v. tr. - irritar, molestar, fastidiar

idioms:

• bug off    irse rápidamente
• bug out    huir asustado

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vägglus, insekt, dold mikrofon, defekt
v. - bugga, reta, tråka

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
虫子, 臭虫, 病菌, 窃听器, 捉臭虫, 装防盗报警器, 激怒, 装窃听器

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 蟲子, 臭蟲, 病菌, 竊聽器
v. intr. - 捉臭蟲
v. tr. - 裝防盜報警器, 激怒, 裝竊聽器

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 반시류의 곤충, 병원균, 결함
v. intr. - 눈을 휘둥그렇게 뜨다
v. tr. - 구충하다, ~을 도청하다, ~을 괴롭히다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 昆虫, ナンキンムシ, 病気, 微生物, 毛針, 欠陥, 誤り, 熱狂家, 熱狂, ばい菌, ブーグ川
v. - 防犯ベルを付ける, 飛び出る, 盗聴する, 悩ます

idioms:

• bitten by the bug    強い興味を抱く

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حشرة, بقه, جرثومه (فعل) يضايق, يعاكس‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פישפש, חרק, חיידק, נגיף, שגיאה, קלקול, שיבוש, מיקרופון שתול, שתל מיקרופון, שגיאה בתוכנית או במערכת מחשב, שיגעון לדבר אחד (מדוברת)‬
v. intr. - ‮אסף חרקים‬
v. tr. - ‮שתל מיקרופון, הציק, אסף או חיסל חרקים‬

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