Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to ruin, to to destroy; thus bugged, ruined.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: bug to spoil.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 7: Bug – to damage.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 237: If this [i.e. a letter of resignation] goes through your career is bugged to the limit.
1967		J. Rechy Numbers (1968) 154: But the man bugs the scene again. ‘Is that really all tan?’.

2. (US Und.) to conspire.

1931–4

D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 330/2: bug, [...] vi. To talk together, to conspire.

3. to annoy, to irritate; thus bugged adj.¹ (1)

1947		Kerouac letter 13 Sept. in Charters I (1995) 126: You must start reading Balzac, incidentally, but don’t let me rush you and bug you.
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 38: You seemed so sure that it was all right, I didn’t want to bug you by bringing anything up.
1958		Mad mag. Jan.–Feb. 48: Three times I bugged him with the King’s lid.
1960		‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 10: Get out of the way, don’t bug me lad, Get off my back.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 64: What’s bugging me [...] is my wife’s getting it on with this banana republic Paul Newman.
1978		D. Marechera House of Hunger (2013) [ebook] The one thing that bugs me about the man is that he even loved white men.
1982		A. Maupin Further Tales of the City (1984) 42: It just bugs the hell out of me that I’ll never be everything she needs.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] [I]t wasn’t the game so much that was bugging Norton. It was the man in the blue suit.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 400: Frankly, it’s been bugging me too.
1999		Observer Mag. 7 Nov. 20: Then he gets to the bit that really bugged him.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 39: This one’s [i.e. a mystery] buggin’ you, isn’t it?
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 23: If it’s that a big a deal and you’ll stop bugging me, I guess I can [phone up].
2016		Young M.A. ‘Eat’ 🎵 And all these groupie-ass niggas they gon’ still bug you.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers [13]: — Thought we’d just have a wee chat. About you bugging my missus.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 53: I fucking hate when she starts buggin me he says.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 45: ‘It’s bugging me where I remember him from’.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 51: The main question that bugged Lee wasn’t [...] likely to be in the file anyway.

4. (also bug up) to pressurize, to nag; thus bugged (up), pressurized.

1949		H. Ellson Duke ix: Bugged up – talked into something, made to do something.
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 30: I don’t wanna be bugged.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 273: She was bugging me to embrace the Holy Ghost and the Fire.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 70: Have I bugged you about the fee?
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 56: Richard kept bugging us on the phone, ‘Are you going to record me?’.
2001		Guardian Weekend 17 Mar. 5: It’s hard to say who was the silliest: those who came to bug Eminem, or those who came to praise him.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Fish Sticksin Knockemstiff 96: She kept bugging the shit out of him.
2011		Times Mag. 30 Apr. 96/3: Maybe he’s bugging someone else’.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] I ain’t buggin’ ’cause the nigguhs be in your face.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 19: ‘Joi said you’ve got a guy bugging you’.

5. to scare, to unnerve; thus bugged adj.¹ (3)

1955		H. Ellson ‘I Didn’t See a Thing’ in Tell Them Nothing (1956) 133: She bugs me with big eyes.
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 32: Rajah hadn’t let them bug him.
1963		G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 184: I began to feel better. The mountains didn’t bug me so much.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 44: There were several repeaters [...] who tried to bug the first offenders with terrible stories about the ‘hard time’ up at the reformatory.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 233: I was frantic! My dreams were bugging me again.

6. (US) to enthuse, to please.

1960

Eve. Standard (Uniontown, PA) 17 Mar. 35/1: Beatnik English by a Beatnik [...] Bugs me — moves me, gives me a thrill.

7. to attack, to beat up.

1966		G. Fletcher Down Among the Meths Men 51: Bugging is done largely with bricks, bottles and boots [...] Robbery and violence are every day occurences.
1966		G. Fletcher Down Among the Meths Men 60: The wildos, the tearaways who really rev up. Always high on meths and drugs, they bug each other and will take any chance. Your ordinary meths man will avoid them.
1974		H.L. Foster Playin’ the Dozens 134: [H]e elicited from the youngster the fact that buggin’, in his neighborhood meant ‘let’s go—let’s fight’.

8. (US) to be tense, nervous, depressed.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 48: Louise just came in and yelled at everyone for no reason. Why in the world is she bugging?
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 bug v 1. to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure. Note: usually only used in the past progressive tense. (‘I was bugging after she got home’.).
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 90: Gotta be gettin’ her home, man, ’fore her pops be buggin’.

9. (US black) to fight.

2002

‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 156: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Slammin. Blazin. Buggin.