thug

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“
He had been a sort of captain of marines in an armed blockade-runner, and he was well known in New Orleans as a gambler, a slave-dealer Mr. Bowdoin grunted almost what they call a thug.

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A cutthroat or ruffian; a hoodlum.
  2. noun One of a band of professional assassins formerly active in northern India who worshiped Kali and offered their victims to her.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Early in the piece I was a bash artist, what you'd call a thug. —  Cleary, Melissa - Dog Mystery 04 - Skull and Dog Bones
  • And the thug is so stupid, he uses her cell phone, and the cops trace it back to him and they - and they arrest him and charge him with murder. —  Think Progress
  • Can't wait until this thug is ousted ... this administration is embroiled in multiple scandals before it even takes office. —  Latest Articles
  • He's a total thug, along with Axelrod and Ayers, but don't get your hopes up. —  Latest Articles
  • No. By then, even the morons who want Obama to pay their mortgages will have learned that the thug is not the Messiah, just a close associate - the apostle normally portrayed kissing the true Messiah. —  Latest Articles
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This word has been looked up 117 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

ruffian ·  assassin ·  killer ·  robber ·  thief ·  bully ·  hoodlum ·  burglar ·  outlaw ·  gangster ·  kidnapper ·  bandit

Used in the same contextWord Family

thug:   thugs
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Hindi ṭhag, perhaps from Sanskrit sthagaḥ, a cheat, from sthagati, sthagayati, he conceals; see (s)teg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Hindustani thag, thug (with cerebral th) = Marathi thak, thag, a cheat, knave. impostor, a robber who strangled travelers, thug. The proper designation of the thug as a strangler is phānsigār, from phānsi, a noose.
 

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/θəg/
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