From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge, from odt *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- ("peg, stake"), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- ("club, pointed stick, peg").

This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic.

• IPA: /pɛɡ/, [pʰɛɡ]

peg (plural pegs)

1. A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
2. A protrusion used to hang things on.

   Hang your coat on the peg and come in.

3. (figurative) A support; a reason; a pretext.

   a peg to hang a claim upon

4. (cribbage) A peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
5. (finance) A fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold.
6. (UK) A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.

   Synonyms: shot

   • 1898, unknown author, Harper's Magazine:

     This over, the club will be visited for a "peg," Anglice drink.

7. A place formally allotted for fishing
8. (colloquial, dated) A leg or foot.
   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 2, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC ↗:

     "Now I'm cleaned up for thee: tha's no 'casions ter stir a peg all day, but sit and read thy books."

9. One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     O, you are well tuned now! / But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am.

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC ↗:

     Did we form ourselves, choosing, and our powers? I find myself, for one, as a stringed instrument with chords and stops - but I have no power to turn the pegs, or pitch my thoughts to a higher or lower key.

10. A step; a degree.
    • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). A Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC ↗:

      to screw papal authority to the highest peg

    • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC ↗:

      We still have worsted all your holy tricks; / Trepann'd your party with intrigue, / And took your grandees down a peg […]

11. Ellipsis of clothes peg
12. (journalism) A topic of interest, such as an ongoing event or an anniversary, around which various features can be developed.
    • 2010, Barbie Zelizer, Stuart Allan, Keywords in News and Journalism Studies, page 111:

      Journalists and prospective sources wishing to attract their attention are constantly on the lookout for pegs. The process by which a peg is identified is informed by news values.

13. (cricket, slang) A stump.
    • 1961, Colin McCool, Cricket is a Game, page 123:

      Lindy hit the pegs with five deliveries out of six.

14. (slang) The penetration of one's (male) partner in the anus using a strap-on dildo.

    Get your strap-on out and give me a nice peg!

15. (slang, archaic) A serving of brandy and soda.
    • 1894, Arthur Travers Crawford, Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official, page 183:

      I then ordered a "peg" (brandy-and-soda) to be brought to my tent, and returned to have a smoke before turning in again.

16. (India) A serving of any hard spirit, particularly whisky.
17. (UK, slang, obsolete) A shilling.
    • 1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:

      The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

18. (psychology) An easily recalled image that a person mentally visualizes with something else, in order to remember that other thing. See mnemonic peg system.
    • 2013, Rod Plotnik, Haig Kouyoumdjian, Introduction to Psychology:

      To remember this list of early psychologists, you recall each peg along with its image of an early psychologist that you placed there.

• French: cheville
• German: Holzdübel, Pflock, Stift, Haltestift, Stöpsel, Zapfen
• Italian: tassello, piolo
• Portuguese: cavilha
• Russian: ко́лышек
• Spanish: clavija, tarugo

• French: porte-manteau, patère
• German: Wäscheklammer, Haken, Pinorrek, Pinörkel, Kleiderhaken, Stift, Haltestift, Huthaken
• Italian: attaccapanni
• Portuguese: pregador
• Russian: крючо́к
• Spanish: colgador, perchero

• German: Stift

• German: Kursstützung, Bindung, Währungsbindung

• German: Schuss, Thema

• German: Wirbel, Stimmwirbel
• Portuguese: cravelha
• Russian: коло́к
• Spanish: clavija

• German: Stufe, Grad, Mass

• German: Wäscheklammer, Klammer
• Russian: прище́пка

• German: Aufmacher, Thema
• Portuguese: gancho
• Spanish: gancho

peg (pegs, present participle pegging; simple past and past participle pegged)

1. (transitive) To fasten using a peg.

   Let's peg the rug to the floor.

2. (transitive) To affix or pin.

   I found a tack and pegged your picture to the bulletin board.

   She lunged forward and pegged him to the wall.

3. (transitive) To fix a value or price.

   China's currency is no longer pegged to the American dollar.

4. (transitive) To narrow the cuff openings of a pair of pants so that the legs take on a peg shape.
5. (transitive, slang) To throw.
6. (transitive, kickball) To throw a ball at (someone), to hit (someone) with a ball.
7. (transitive, slang) To indicate or ascribe an attribute to.

   He's been pegged as a suspect.

   I pegged his weight at 165.

8. (cribbage) To move one's pegs to indicate points scored; to score with a peg.

   She pegged twelve points.

9. (transitive, slang) To reach or exceed the maximum value on (a scale or gauge).

   We pegged the speedometer across the flats.

10. (slang, transitive, typically in heterosexual contexts) To engage in anal sex by penetrating (one's male partner) with a strap-on dildo.
11. (intransitive) To keep working hard at something; to peg away.
    • 1911, William Montgomerie Lamont, Volunteer memories, page 160:

      For more than the period of his splendid service in India, which the country was not slow to acknowledge, the Volunteers had kept pegging at it, despite all the official obstacles thrown in the way […]

12. (slang, archaic) To drink alcohol frequently, especially brandy and soda; to tipple.
13. (UK, slang, obsolete, transitive) To drive (a hackney carriage).
    • 2014, Robert Newman, The Case of the Somerville Secret:

      I was pegging a hack when the horse started limping. I got down to see if he'd picked up a stone and he lashed out at me.

• French: cheviller
• German: klammern
• Portuguese: cavilhar

• French: épingler
• German: anklammern

• French: fixer
• Spanish: fijar

• French: lancer avec force
• German: werfen

• French: cataloguer comme, mettre sur le dos
• German: schätzen
• Spanish: tachar

• German: schätzen

• French: cheviller

1. (astronomy) Abbreviation of Pegasus or its genitive form Pegasi.

• IPA: /pɛɡ/

1. A female given name
   1. Diminutive of Margaret
   2. Clipping of Peggy

Shortening.

1. (Canada, slang) Abbreviation of the city of Winnipeg Usually preceded by "the".

   I just got back from the Peg.

peg

1. (chemistry) Acronym of polyethylene glycol
2. (medicine, countable) Init of w:percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy
3. Init of price/earnings to growth

   PEG ratio

4. (uncountable) Init of public, educational, and government (access television).
5. (computer science, countable) Init of w:parsing expression grammar
6. Abbreviation of pyroelectric generator