drug

English Online Dictionary. What means drug‎? What does drug mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /dɹʌɡ/, [d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷʌɡ]
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Etymology 1

From Middle English drogge (“medicine”), from Old French drogue, drocque (“tincture, pharmaceutical product”), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge, as in droge vate (“dry vats, dry barrels”), mistaking droge for the contents, which were usually dried herbs, plants or wares. Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (“dry”), from Old Dutch drōgi (“dry”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, hard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). Cognate with English dry, Dutch droog (“dry”), German trocken (“dry”).

Noun

drug (plural drugs)

1. (pharmacology) A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pharmaceutical
2. A psychoactive substance, especially one which is illegal and addictive, ingested for recreational use, such as cocaine.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:recreational drug

   • March 1991, unknown student, "Antihero opinion", SPIN, page 70

     You have a twelve-year-old kid being told from the time he's like five years old that all drugs are bad, they're going to screw you up, don't try them. Just say no. Then they try pot.
3. (by extension) Anything, such as a substance, emotion, or action, to which one is addicted.
4. Any commodity that lies on hand, or is not salable; an article of slow sale, or in no demand.
5. (Canada, US, informal) Short for drugstore.

Derived terms

Collocations

Translations

Verb

drug (third-person singular simple present drugs, present participle drugging, simple past and past participle drugged)

1. (transitive) To administer intoxicating drugs to, generally without the recipient's knowledge or consent.

2. (transitive) To add intoxicating drugs to with the intention of drugging someone.

3. (intransitive) To prescribe or administer drugs or medicines.
4. (intransitive, rare) To use intoxicating drugs.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Germanic ablaut formation. If old, a doublet of drew, from Middle English drug, drog, drugh, drogh, from Old English drōg, from Proto-Germanic *drōg; compare Dutch droeg, German trug, Swedish drog. If secondary, probably formed by analogy with hang.

Verb

drug

1. (dialectal, Canada, US) simple past and past participle of drag

Usage notes

• Random House says that drug is "nonstandard" as the past tense of drag. Merriam-Webster once ruled that drug in this construction was "illiterate" but have since upgraded it to "dialect". The lexicographers of New World, American Heritage, and Oxford make no mention of this sense.

Etymology 3

Noun

drug (plural drugs)

1. (obsolete) A drudge.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English drug.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Netherlands) /drʏk/, (Belgium) /drʏx/
• Hyphenation: drug

Noun

drug m (plural drugs)

1. (chiefly plural, which see) a recreational drug, psychoactive substance, especially when illegal and addictive

Derived terms

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *drȗgъ. First attested in the fifteenth century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /druːk/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /druk/

Noun

drug m animacy unattested

1. (attested in Lesser Poland) friend

   Synonym: przyjaciel

   Antonym: wróg

Related terms

Descendants

• Polish: drug

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “drug”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian druga.

Noun

drug m (plural drugi)

1. pole, stick

Declension

References

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *drugъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *draugás, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /drûːɡ/

Noun

drȗg m (Cyrillic spelling дру̑г)

1. (Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro) friend

   Synonyms: prijatelj, drugar, (slang, Croatia) frend

2. (dated) comrade (commonly used in parts of Former Yugoslavia among coworkers or friends)

   Synonym: drugar

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• drugàrica
• drúga
• drȕgī
• drùžica

Further reading

• “drug”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /drúːk/

Adjective

drȗg (not comparable)

1. other, another, different

Declension

See also

• drúgi

Further reading

• “drug”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

Veps

Etymology

From Russian друг (drug, “(male) friend”).

Noun

drug

1. paramour (illicit lover)
2. lover

Declension