thug

thug
\ \ [19] Hindi thag means literally ‘robber, cheat’ (it is descended from Sanskrit sthagarobber’, a derivative of sthagaticover, hide’, which goes back ultimately to the Indo- European base *steg-, *teg- ‘cover’, source also of English deck, detect, integument, protect, thatch, etc). It came to be applied to members of a band of professional thieves and murderers in India, whose preferred method of dispatching their victims was strangulation (their other name was phansigar, literally ‘strangler’); and English took it over in the 1830s as a general term for a ‘brutally violent person’.
\ \ Cf.DECK, DETECT, PROTECT, THATCH

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Thug — may refer to: *A person, often a criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, especially for hire * Thug (in this usage written with an uppercase T) (from Hindi ठग ṭhag ), a member of the defunct Indian cult Thuggee *Thug, a gardening term… …   Wikipedia

  • Thug — (engl. „Verbrecher“, „Schläger“) bezeichnet: ein Mitglied der indischen kriminellen Geheimorganisation Thuggee den US amerikanischen Rapper Slim Thug eine Abkürzung in Versalien (THUG) einiger Videospiele der Videospielserie Tony Hawk’s… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • thug — thug; thug·gee; thug·gery; thug·gish; …   English syllables

  • thug — ● thug nom masculin Membre d une confrérie religieuse de l Inde, qui, en l honneur de la déesse Kali, se livrait au meurtre rituel par strangulation (XIIe XIXe s.). thug [tyg] n. m. et adj. ÉTYM. Mil. XIXe (in P. Larousse, 1876); angl. thug, 1810 …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Thug — (th[u^]g; 277), n. [Hind. thag a deceiver, robber.] 1. One of an association of robbers and murderers in India who practiced murder by stealthy approaches, and from religious motives. They have been nearly exterminated by the British government.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Thug —   [tag, englisch θʌg], indische Raubmörderkaste (seit dem 12. Jahrhundert bis etwa 1835). Die Thug verehrten die blutdürstige Göttin Kali …   Universal-Lexikon

  • thug —    (thug) [Hindi: rogue; cheat] A vicious ruffian, thief, or killer. Formerly, one of a confederacy of professional assassins in India who worshipped Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction.    the lads are chased into the outback by immigration… …   Dictionary of foreign words and phrases

  • thug — ► NOUN 1) a violent and uncouth man, especially a criminal. 2) (Thug) a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India, suppressed by the British in the 1830s. DERIVATIVES thuggery noun thuggish adjective. ORIGIN Hindi,… …   English terms dictionary

  • thug — [thug] n. [Hindi ṭhag, swindler < Sans sthaga, a cheat, rogue, akin to sthagayati, (he) hides < IE base * (s)teg , to cover > THATCH] 1. [also T ] a member of a former group in India that murdered and robbed in the service of Kali 2. a… …   English World dictionary

  • thug — index assailant Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • thug — [θʌg] n [Date: 1800 1900; : Hindi; Origin: thag thief , from Sanskrit sthaga bad man ] a violent man ▪ He was beaten up by a gang of young thugs …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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