Verb I felt someone tugging on my sleeve. She tugged the cord until the plug came out of the wall socket. Noun He felt a gentle tug on his sleeve. gave the man in front a tug on his shirtsleeve as a sign that he was supposed to step aside
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Somewhere far away, or perhaps someone from far away, may start to tug on your heartstrings.Chicago Tribune, 12 Sep. 2022 Leave it to Reese Witherspoon's daughter, Ava Phillippe, to tug at our fashion heartstrings in a major way with her ultra-girly festival look. Jennifer Chan, PEOPLE.com, 20 Apr. 2022 Bringing your whole household onto the red carpet is a surefire way to tug at the heartstrings. Janelle Okwodu, Vogue, 21 Mar. 2022 Howard then appeared to tug at Gard’s shirt, point his index finger in Gard’s face and get into a heated discussion with Gard.New York Times, 20 Feb. 2022 In attempting to tug heartstrings, the film ultimately raises eyebrows instead. Michael Nordine, Variety, 14 June 2022 If your greenery is struggling to slide out, gently tug on the base of the stems. Mariah Thomas, Good Housekeeping, 13 July 2022 He’s getting picked first for the tug-a-war competition, in other words. Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 6 July 2022 Those riffs are part of Growin’ Up’s sonic maturity; its spacious production, helmed by Combs alongside co-producers Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton, allows guitar licks and thumping bass lines to tug songs in sometimes surprising directions. Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2022
Noun
Then, Baek, the troop leader who came from Korea, recounted how the girls prevailed against the boys in tug of war their first year — a memory that makes the girls smile. Becky Jacobs, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Aug. 2022 The culmination of recent events reinforced that businesses could soon be compelled to choose a side in the long-standing tug-of-war between Washington and Beijing. Yvonne Lau, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2022 Mortgage rates are caught in a tug of war — pulled one way by inflation fears, yanked the other by recession concerns. Kathy Orton, Washington Post, 21 July 2022 The streamer has made an eight-episode series order for Criminal Record, a new one-hour thriller starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo as detectives in a tug of war over a historic murder conviction. Alex Ritman, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 June 2022 Children could play with bubbles at several bubble stations, build with blocks, play tug-of-war and participate in community programs and education. Joshua Gunter, cleveland, 18 June 2022 Saint, Chicago, and Psalm surround their mother and play tug-of-war with her denim, while North quietly claims her hand. Jen Wang, Vogue, 9 Feb. 2022 Players stand on top of giant orb cages and play tug of war until someone falls or drops the rope — which is on fire. Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 4 Nov. 2021 Lately, demand concerns have been winning the tug of war. Anna Hirtenstein, WSJ, 31 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English tuggen; akin to Old English togian to pull — more at tow