hug

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To hold someone closely in your arms to show love or affection.

   She hugged her daughter tightly before saying goodbye.

2. 2
   noun

   The act of holding someone closely in your arms.

   Come here and give me a big hug.

3. 3
   verb

   To fit closely or stay very near something.

   The road hugs the coastline for several miles.

From earlier hugge (“to embrace, clasp with the arms”) (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck (“to crouch, huddle down”) and Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, console”), from hugr (“mind, heart, thought”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“mind, thought, sense”), cognate with Icelandic hugga (“to comfort”), Old English hyġe (“thought”) (whence high (Etymology 2)).

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