rug

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A thick piece of fabric used to cover part of a floor.

   There's a soft rug in front of the fireplace.

2. 2
   noun

   A thick blanket, especially one used for warmth.

   They wrapped a rug around their knees on the cold journey.

3. 3
   verb

   To cover with a rug or blanket.

   In winter they rug the horses to keep them warm.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Rug was once the name of a coarse woollen cloth and is probably from the same root as rag, which probably goes back to a Scandinavian word meaning “tufted.” The sense “small carpet” dates from the early 16th century.

Uncertain; probably of North Germanic origin; perhaps inherited via Middle English *rugge (suggested by Middle English ruggy (“hairy, shaggy, bristly”) and rugged (“hairy, shaggy, rugged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“shagginess, tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”), probably related to *rūhaz (“rough”), related to English rag and rough. Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rugga (“coarse coverlet”), Swedish rugg (“rough entangled hair”), related to English rag and rough. Compare also Old English rȳhe (“rug, rough covering, blanket”).

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