Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A heavy, stale atmosphere, especially the musty air of an overcrowded or poorly ventilated room.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A heavy, musty, and unpleasant atmosphere, usually in a poorly-ventilated area.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (British informal) an airless smoky smelly atmosphere

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of fogo, stench.]

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Examples

  • I think this book should have been called An Abundance of Fugs, mainly because the word fug (or some variation thereof) is used about 7500 times (not that I counted).

    An Abundance of Katherines -- John Green Bill Crider 2009

  • I think this book should have been called An Abundance of Fugs, mainly because the word fug (or some variation thereof) is used about 7500 times (not that I counted).

    Archive 2009-07-12 Bill Crider 2009

  • When Norman Mailer wrote his first novel, The Naked and the Dead, he used a euphemism -- "fug" -- for fuck.

    Paul Krassner: Remembering Norman Mailer 2008

  • I think he used "fug" in The Naked and the Dead, unless I'm thinking of someone else.

    Norman Mailer, R. I. P. Bill Crider 2007

  • Dict.leo says the English word for this is "fug" but I never heard it before.

    German words I've completely adopted C N Heidelberg 2009

  • Dict.leo says the English word for this is "fug" but I never heard it before.

    Archive 2009-07-01 C N Heidelberg 2009

  • Like a kid, Mr. Mailer was fascinated by his own naughtiness -- his earliest critics castigated him for the vulgarity of his language, though his editors insisted that he use the word "fug" in "The Naked and the Dead."

    A Boy's Life 2007

  • I had bought a quantity of Cox's and Bramley apples with which to make some mincemeat, and having spent a morning in the kitchen inhaling the fug of warm spices, cider and the rich sweetness of cooked apples, I felt ready to bake a little something for immediate consumption don't you think that 'fug' is the perfect word for cider related activities?

    Archive 2006-12-01 2006

  • I had bought a quantity of Cox's and Bramley apples with which to make some mincemeat, and having spent a morning in the kitchen inhaling the fug of warm spices, cider and the rich sweetness of cooked apples, I felt ready to bake a little something for immediate consumption don't you think that 'fug' is the perfect word for cider related activities?

    Apple Gingerbread with Cinnamon Icing 2006

  • I feel like I'm trapped in a neverending continental balmy fug which is rendering everything utterly unfamiliar and alien.

    Archive 2006-07-01 Alistair Myles 2006

Comments

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  • I'm listing this in memory of Norman Mailer, who was pressured into using it as a euphemism for "fuck" throughout his first book, "The Naked and the Dead."

    Wikipedia has an amusing Mailer quote about his use of "fug", from a 1968 TV appearance.

    November 14, 2007

  • I heard it was Dorothy Parker who said that to him.

    November 14, 2007

  • Then there's pestilential fug. That's no euphemism.

    October 12, 2008

  • A non-explicit word, being minced oath for "fuck".

    December 10, 2017