Etymology Borrowed from Hindustani ठग (ṭhag) / ٹھگ (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”), further derived from Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga), of uncertain origin. See there for more. Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat, and cruel robber" by 1839. Perhaps related to English thatch, deck.
A person who is a member of a gang or criminal organization.
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A violent, aggressive, or truculent person.
They call you a land of license—free but to thug and thief.1915, Cale Young Rice, “My Country”, in Collected Plays and Poems, page 342:
Every summer brought the prospect of the dragonships snaking their way upriver, each vessel filled with thirty or more rapacious thugs.1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 77:
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I pushed up out of my chaise and headed for the miniten court. Leah handed me her thug as I walked past her.2021, Anna Durand, Natural Satisfaction:
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A criminal that extorts people.
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A person who use intimidation to coerce others.
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Historical One of a band of assassins formerly active in northern India who worshipped Kali and sacrificed their victims to her.
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One who, usually as a result of social disadvantage, has turned to committing crimes (e.g. selling drugs, robbery, assault, etc.) to make a living; a gangsta.
Etymology Borrowed from Hindustani ठग (ṭhag) / ٹھگ (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”), further derived from Prakrit 𑀞𑀕 (ṭhaga), of uncertain origin. See there for more. Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat, and cruel robber" by 1839. Perhaps related to English thatch, deck.
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Informal To commit acts of thuggery, to live the life of a thug, to menace, to commit crime.
Mr. Ingleby ascertained at the office—after threading the mazes of passage and staircase as though he expected momently to be Thugged—that his nephew had not yet come.1854, My Ducats and My Daughter, volume II, page 247:
The report then records the arrest of the whole force of the union paper, the Victor Record, the forced resignation of many other civil officers in the Cripple Creek district who were in sympathy with the miners, […] the severe thugging of many of the well-known labor organizers,1968, Harry Wellington Laidler, Boycotts and the Labor Struggle, page 302:
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C.C. and Company. Another story about the young American motor-cycle hoodlum gangs: raping, thugging and robbing their way along the roads.1972, F. Maurice Speed, Film Review, page 219:
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Informal (often with out) To appear as a thug; to dress and act in a manner reminiscent of a thug.
I don’t thug out, but I’m not Wall Street, either. Russell Simmons and Puffy have clothes for this look in the affordable range.2003 April, Dorian Missick, quotee, “Clothesline: Dorian Missick”, in Playboy Magazine, page 44:
Oh. Besides Allen Iverson, basketball players don’t be thugged out enough for me. I like me a roughneck.2006, Katina King, Ride Wit’ Me, page 11:
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Well, I’d like to see more positive images of black men. Ones that don’t just go on about having a big dick, thugging and bashing on some girl.2017, Todd Dedman, quoting research participant ‘Luke’, Purists and Peripherals: Hip-hop and Grime Subcultures, page 169: