big lug
7
6.1
- noun
- Informal
:
gran torpe
- You big lug, I love you!
- Come here, you big lug
- Go on, you big lug
- I love you, you big lug
Examples
-
- Hey, down in front, you big lug!
-
I love you, you big lug.
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Come here, ya big lug!
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Come here, you big lug.
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The big lug loves you!
-
Come here, you big lug.
Fiction book (1996) -
Then she took Buster's arm and said, "Come on, you big lug."
Fiction book (1990) -
"Go now, you big lug," she says, wiping his eyes with her handkerchief.
Fiction book (1997) -
There was a picture of them in Radio Mirror p151 with the caption Marion Street and her big lug.
Fiction book (1990) -
I can't believe you did that, you big lug!
Synonyms
2
9.9
A large clumsy person who often knocks things over
2
9.9
A person who is clumsy and slow to understand things
1
9.9
A clumsy person who is awkward in movement or manners
How Clumsy
Surface Forms
Morphology
big + lug
The adjective 'big' clearly contributes a size meaning and, if the learner knows the colloquial noun 'lug' as a clumsy fellow, the combined sense 'large, clumsy person' is compositionally predictable. However, 'lug' is informal/low-frequency and is not defined here, and its affectionate/clumsy nuance may be unknown to many B1 learners, so the expression is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Big lug may come from the older use of lug, which meant a heavy thing or 'to carry' something. Picture a big person who moves like a heavy load—strong and a bit clumsy but warm—so big lug came to mean 'a large, clumsy, but endearing person'.