bug

«bug» in Mova's school dictionary: A small insect or other tiny crawling creature, like a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a bug, bugs); verb (bug, bugs, bugged, bugging)

meaning for a pupil

1) A small insect or other tiny crawling creature, like a beetle or an ant. tree →

2) A germ that makes you mildly ill, like a cold or stomach bug. tree →

3) A mistake in a computer program that makes it go wrong. tree →

4) (verb) To annoy someone again and again. tree →

5) A tiny hidden microphone used to listen secretly; (verb) to hide one. tree →

6) A sudden strong interest: «the reading bug». tree →

7) Bug juice is slang for a weak, nasty drink that is not worth much. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, «bug» is an everyday word for insects; scientists use «true bugs» only for some insects with sucking mouths. In health it means a germ: «a tummy bug». In computing it is an error to find and fix. In everyday talk «stop bugging me» means stop annoying me. Phrases: «catch a bug», «a stomach bug», «fix a bug», «stop bugging me».

examples

• We found a green bug on the leaf. tree →
• Ladybugs are bugs that eat aphids. tree →
• I stayed home with a stomach bug. tree →
• Wash your hands so you don't catch a bug. tree →
• There was a bug in my game, so it kept crashing. tree →
• My little brother keeps bugging me while I read. tree →
• After the trip, Sam caught the travel bug. tree →
• Don't pick up bugs you don't know; some can sting. tree →
• The Spider came, and there he found a cricket, a beetle, and a bug. tree →

note

Countable: a bug, two bugs. Past form: bugged. Spiders are often called bugs in everyday talk, but they are not insects (they have eight legs). «Bug» meaning annoy is informal. «Ladybug» (US) = «ladybird» (UK).

In the corpora

• Chimps groom each other to remove dirt and bugs, but also to make friends and make up after fights.
• Stink bugs release bad-smelling chemicals when disturbed, and smells work well as defences because predators learn quickly.
• But wild bugs from the garden are never a snack, because they can carry germs and poisons.
• "Tummy bug" means a stomach infection with being sick or diarrhoea; it is everyday British English.
• Ask what the plain word would be: a fee, a bug, a loss, a tax, a lie.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «bug» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.