Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a prize-fighter, a boxer, esp. one who relies more on savagery than skill; pugging as fighting; also attrib.

1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 184: He was known by his brother pugs to be one of the gamest hands in the ring.
1859		N.Y. Morning Express 14 July 2/4: Another prize fight between a couple of ‘pugs’ of tolerably extended reputation.
1866		Sportsman 8 Sept. 2/1: Notes on News [...] [T]he mother of one of the ‘pugs’ was observed actively in using the sponge for her promising offspring.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 82: An awful looking ‘pug’ with an enormous head, the facial portion of which was ornamented with numerous bumps and gashes.
1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 56: Having in his young manhood engagd in the prize-fighting profession, lodging in Seven Dials with a now celebrated ‘pug’.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 143: He’d been a little [...] in the prize-fighting line — enough to have his nose broken, and was fond of talking about ‘pugs’ as he’d known intimate.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 87: The last pair of boxers was brought into the dressing-room, and one of the seconds, a battered old pug with one eye, at once seized Neddy.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 62: Pugs, professional fighting men.
1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 168: The Word went around that the imported Pug was too Fat and had bad Wind.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 6 Mar. 4/1: Genuine boxing contests will draw the public and give profit to pug and proprietor alike .
1908		Sporting Times 1 Aug. 1/2: ‘He hits bloomin’ hard and he keeps on a doing of it,’ was the rueful explanation of the knocked-out Pug.
1908		Sun. Times (Perth) 7 June 4/7: A well-known horse and pug writer.
1912		Sport (Adelaide) 24 Aug. 14/2: They Say [...] That the Glenelg pug [...] has gone into strict training.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 15 Mar. 12/3: Poor old Fat C has turned up the pug business since J C gave him a few hard knocks.
1913		Lincoln Daily News 2 Jan. in DN IV:ii 123: ‘Black Pugs barred, Declares McCarty, New White Champion’ [Headline].
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 315: We’re goin to have [...] some fights in the Armory if we can get hold of any pugs.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 33: Twenty men crowded through the door [...] reporters, amateurs, pugs, hangers-on, and plain citizens.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 201: Has this punch-drunk old pug bin getting bloody fool notions in his own thick skull and passing them on to you?
1938		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 26 Feb. 3/3: Somebody knocked off a punk named Tickner, a prelim. pug who ran a beer house for ‘Hoppy’ Gardner.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 39: He looks like a punch-drunk pug to me.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 123: He won his fight two weeks ago. He’s a pro pug now.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 56: ‘That’s my money,’ a big whisky-headed ex-pug shouted.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 57: [as 1957].
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 9: I was thinkin’ myself [...] half a pug in them days.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 16: Bill had held the Australian middle-weight title and was a pretty good pug in his day.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 51: The fat guy and the pug’re hungry.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 118: The expug leapt to his feet, toppling the wroughtiron chair.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] Not bad for a couple of ten-year-old pugs who could hardly lift their boxing gloves.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 105: Fathers of Mexican girls admired him for boxing [...] but even they would not want their daughters to marry a pug.
2012		(con. 1954) ‘Jack Tunney’ Tomato Can Comeback [ebook] It was just a clue to how respectful he was [...] unlike so many other pugs.

2. (also pugger) a thug, a hoodlum.

1887		W.E. Henley ‘Villon’s Good-Night’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 174: You bleeding bonnets, pugs, and subs, / You swatchel-coves that pitch and slam.
1891		Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette 20 Mar. n.p.: A posse of pugs guarded the course [F&H].
1911		E.S. Sorenson Bush Cooks in Life in the Aus. Backblocks 91: Concerning fighting cooks the tales are legion. I remember one snag in a north-western (New South Wales) shed, who cooked abominably, but rendered his position tenable by punching the ringer, spreading out the shed pug, and knocking pieces off the wool-presser.
1927		C. Coe Me – Gangster 77: I’ll be double damned if I’ll have your bum pugs creepin’ around here.
c.1935		Bellyhoo [comic strip] A West side pug, who had seen a bit of life [etc.].
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 218: I’ll turn the old pug loose.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 38: The guy could be a pug, but if he was he wouldn’t be making any passes from a sitting-down position.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 126: [of a violent prison officer] Here comes the pug, he’d shout into the air, if he saw him.
1960		I. Freeman Out of the Burning (1961) 131: Gus was a lot bigger and more experienced pugger than I.
1960		P. Rabe Murder Me for Nickels (2004) 116: So I jumped at the last minute and the short pug and I were on the same rack.
1972		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 107: I went to high school with, namely one of the stupidest, ugliest pugs I ever knew, named Butch Dugger.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 92: His funeral was attended by half of San Pedro and all of the winos, pugs, and street fighters from the Main Street gym to Terminal Island prison.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 150: One day, you’re living high, laughing at some rich pug’s stale jokes.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I’m still not convinced a visit from Davie Geddes’s pugs isn’t on the cards.
2013		B. Leopold ‘With One Stone’ in ThugLit Apr. [ebook] ‘Hang up the phone,’ the pug said quietly.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 200: My dad was a pug – champion bantamweight.

3. (Aus.) in weak use of sense 2, a contestant.

1895

Truth (Sydney) 5 May 3/1: There is a general improvement in the glittering vestments and shiny faces of all the political pugs.

4. (Aus.) the champion.

1914

Sport (Adelaide) 7 Feb. 7/4: They Say [...] That R0y H. thought he was the pug of East Moonta until he met Spinner B. Is that why he is raffling his gloves?