Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to throw (at), to pitch (at); thus (Aus.) peg a gooly v., to throw a stone; peg n., a throw, pegger n., thrower.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Peg at cocks to throw at them at Shrovetide.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1905		S.F. Call 15 Jan. 23/2: Th’ man that breaks th’ furniture, tips over th’ table [...] and pegs th’ lamp at th’ lady .
1912		Van Loan ‘A Rain Check’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 304: The catcher admitted that White was the best ‘pegger’ he had ever seen.
1914		Joyce ‘Grace’ Dubliners (1956) 159: He takes up a wad of cabbage on the spoon and pegs it across the room and the poor devils have to try and catch it on their plates.
1918		K.F. Purdon Dinny on the Doorstep 100: An’ I after spending me good money, dressing her up like a lady; and might as well have pegged the whole of it into the Liffey!
1919		A. Baer Two and Three 3 Mar. [synd. col.] They were pegging the dice to see who was going to be the dinner or the diner.
1925		R. Lardner ‘Women’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 155: I was peggin’ bunts to first base before the guy could drop his bat.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Tight Shoes’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 472: Somebody back in the crowd pegs an egg at Calvin Colby’s high hat.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 126: Somebody in the audience pegs a turnip at him.
1951		D. Dressler Parole Chief 149: The man pegged a shot at him, but Roy [...] brought the gunman down.
1960		J. O’Donoghue In Kerry Long Ago 83: He was away from school this day and spent half his time pegging stones at crows.
1960		J. Brosnan Long Season 60: [T]he catcher’s peg to second base that signals the end of springtime playtime.
1969		C. Sellers Where Have All the Soldiers Gone 18: ‘It ain’t exactly non-violent to peg a canteen at a guy’.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 364: Someone had pegged a half-full can of beer at him from a passing car.
1986		S. King It (1987) 209: They each had a handful of water-rounded rocks. Victor pegged one.
1994		P. Quigley Borderland 42: Bad boys. They peg stones at me when they get close enough.

2. (also peg at) to hit, to beat.

1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 33: By G-d the first Man that comes near me to cringe, kiss or courtesie, I’ll peg his Muns as flat as a Pancake.
1824		Morn. Chron. (London) 15 Apr. 4/2: He was pegged in such a way by his opponent that before he can peel again he must get new vamped.
1838		J.C. Neal Charcoal Sketches (1865) 47: I’d hit you unofficially, if there was any use in pegging at a fly.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 29 Oct. n.p.: Lize pegged Sal, while Sal thumped Lize.
1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 18 Mar. 1/3: He was again pegged on the left cheek.
1857		Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 May 2/6: Jones dashed in and pegged away with both mawleys.
1860		Bell’s Life in Sydney 11 Feb. 4/2: The combatants ‘pegged at each other with right good will’.
1897		E.W. Townsend Chimmie Fadden 35: I gets tired pegging de kid.

3. (US) to shoot at.

1912		Day Book (Chicago) 30 May 6/1: An’ our rifles spoke in spiteful tones / An’ I pegged your hat off, Lemuel Jones.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 154/2: Peg slugs. To fire shots.
1953		F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 103: This gun [...] He almost pegged us with it.
1973		E.F. Droge Patolman 147: It would be bad [...] having to explain how the man that pegged the shot escaped.
1987		M. McAlary Buddy Boys 113: ‘At first when someone pegs a shot at you, you don’t even think. It’s amazing, but you don’t. You just react’.