Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to look at, to stare; thus peg off, to have under surveillance.

1865		Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1994) 482: Here Mr. Wegg repeated ‘secret hoards,’ and pegged his comrade again.
1929		H.C. Witwer Yes Man’s Land 30: If Jack hadn’t pegged Fay Daniels in that eatery, them babies would be trying to crash into pictures yet.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 135: I didn’t like the way he was peggin’ y’orf.
1972		J. McNeill Old Familiar Juice (1973) 30: dadda: I’ll sit here [on the top bunk] and peg from me perch.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 7: He pegged her up and down and lamped that the tight shorts she was wearing made her beer and sarse appear like two apples in a wet paper bag.
1994		B. Payne Poor Behaviour 55: ‘My shampoo’s gone and you were pegged in my slot, you ugly bastard’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 137/2: peg (also peg out) v. 1 to act as a lookout; to notice or to (keep) watch.

2. (orig. US) to recognize, to work out, to analyse.

1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 17: ‘An you can peg another thing for a cinch. [...] I ain’t givin’ anything away!’.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘Out of His Class’ in Taking the Count 176: First time I seen him step, I pegs him for a comin’ champion.
1922		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 3 Dec. 4/5: You’ve all got me pegged for a dead one.
1929		A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 107: Since Kallich pegged him we have not seen him until now.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Big Umbrella’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 555: As soon as she opens the door she pegs him as a heavy-weight prospect.
1946		J. Evans Halo in Blood (1988) 222: If Sandmark pegs him as Ederle – ouch!
1958		‘Ed Lacy’ Room to Swing 14: I’d stand out and somebody would peg me as ‘the’ Negro being hunted by the New York police.
1960		Mad mag. Jan. 47: And he rocked, and he rolled, and he pegged them by tag.
1975		H. Ellison ‘The Whimper of Whipped Dogs’ in Deathbird Stories (1978) 25: She would have pegged him as an anti-feminist, ordinarily.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 36: The driver pegged him for a GI when he got aboard.
1996		(con. 1946) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 75: It wasn’t much of a longshot to peg you for a Greek.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 12: The lookout pegged me.
2006		R. Antoni Carnival 13: Let the neighbours peg us for a couple of bullers. Me ain’t bothered.
2013		J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 59: Maybe it was FMD — Film Noir Disease — but I pegged her for a woman on the lam.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 74: [T]hey had me pegged as the leader of the Bloods. They said I controlled everything.

3. (US Und.) to place some form of peg or wedge into a door jamb to ascertain whether or not that door has been opened during one’s absence .

1926

J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 251: I ‘pegged’ the spot for a week, and satisfied myself that after the store was closed at night no one entered it till opening-up time in the morning. The expression, ‘I have him pegged,’ which has crept into common usage, is thieves’ slang pure and simple, and has nothing to do with the game of cribbage as many suppose. The thief, to save himself the trouble of staying up all night watching a spot to make sure no one enters after closing hours, puts a small wooden peg in the door jamb after the place is locked up. At five or six o’clock in the morning he takes a look. If the peg is in place the door has not been opened. If it is found lying in the doorway, that means somebody has opened the door in the night. If he finds the place is visited in the night he must then stay out and learn why and at what time and how often. He now has the place ‘pegged’ and plans accordingly or passes it up as too tough.

4. to survey.

1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 142: Peg.–To watch or spy on a person or place.
1949		(con. 1943–5) A. Murphy To Hell and Back (1950) 33: If the krauts have got us pegged, we can’t get out.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 811: peg – To watch or spy on a person or place.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 138/1: peg (also peg out) 2 to conduct intelligence work prior to committing a crime.

5. (Aus./N.Z.) to search.

1982

G. Newbold Big Huey 176: The screws used to peg heavily for heaters during the months of winter.

6. (N.Z. und.) to act as a lookout; thus pegger, a lookout.

2010

W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 61: The word pegger has an equivalent in Australian criminal slang as cockatoo, meaning a look out.