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thuggery

 - 3 dictionary results

thug

  [thuhg] ,
Use thuggery in a Sentence
–noun
1. a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) one of a former group of professional robbers and murderers in India who strangled their victims.
Origin:
1800–10; < Hindi thag lit., rogue, cheat

Related forms:
thug⋅ger⋅y  [thuhg-uh-ree] , noun
thuggish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To thuggery
thug   (thŭg)   
n.  

  1. A cutthroat or ruffian; a hoodlum.

  2. also Thug One of a band of professional assassins formerly active in northern India who worshiped Kali and offered their victims to her.


[Hindi ṭhag, perhaps from Sanskrit sthagaḥ, a cheat, from sthagati, sthagayati, he conceals; see (s)teg- in Indo-European roots.]
thug'ger·y n., thug'gish adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

thug 
1810, "member of a gang of murderers and robbers in India who strangled their victims," from Marathi thag, thak "cheat, swindler," Hindi thag, perhaps from Skt. sthaga-s "cunning, fraudulent," possibly from sthagayati "(he) covers, conceals," from PIE base *(s)teg- "cover" (see stegosaurus). Transferred sense of "ruffian, cutthroat" first recorded 1839. The more correct Indian name is phanseegur, and the activity was described in Eng. as far back as c.1665. Rigorously prosecuted by the British from 1831, they were driven from existence, but the process extended over the rest of the 19c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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