Mug

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /mʌɡ/

Definitions

1. A cylindrical container used to drink hot beverages such as coffee or tea ; to steal from someone by threatening or using violence, typically in public ; the front part of the head showing a person's facial features or expression
2. A type of cup commonly used for warming drinks ; forcibly taking someone's possessions through intimidation or attack ; an individual's face seen in a particular moment or mood
3. A sturdy cup often made of ceramic for liquids ; the act of violently robbing someone in a street or public place ; the appearance of someone's face or the look they give

Etymology: Long before it meant a cup for hot drinks, "mug" was a word for earthenware. In the early 16th century it was used in northern England for a pot or jug, and the drinking-vessel sense only grew out of that. Its ancestry is murky: it may be linked to Scandinavian and Low German words such as Swedish "mugg" and Dutch "mok," which also meant a mug or jug, but no firm origin has been established. The word also has a far less genteel second life. As an informal variant of "motherfucker," it appears as an insult, and the slang sense is a reminder of how far a plain pottery word has travelled from the kitchen shelf.

Synonyms: cup, tankard, chalice, beaker, tumbler