Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to imprison, to incarcerate.

1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. III 10: We’ll have to jug you for to-night!
1855		Broadway Belle (NY) 29 Jan. n.p.: Lewis, a writer of the blood-and-thunder school, has been jugged [...] for trying to extort money.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 83/2: I’ll gie ’em fifty pounds mysen an’ the-ir kan ‘jug’ uz fur this ’ere ‘job!’.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 16 Nov. 2/2: A ‘gun’ who had been ‘jugged’ for ‘prigging’ at the polls.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 247: It ain’t likely that I would run towards the cove what jugged my dad.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Jan. 6/1: He explained to the policeman who jugged him that the other Dutchman had been calling him ‘ugly names in their own language’.
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 21 Dec. 3/4: Martha Dodd [...] was recently jugged [...] on a charge of horse stealing.
1892		A.C. Gunter Miss Dividends 66: Buck Powers told me I’d be jugged if I shot at ’em.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 19 Feb. 1/8: Had an employee ‘accidentally’ knocked out an employer’s eye — he would have been jugged for a considerable period.
1900		H. Garland Eagle’s Heart 53: They jugged Harry and he’s there — in jail.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 10 Jan. 4/5: The Boer Government wanted to jug him for seditious writing.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 160: Judge, before you jug me I ask a word with the jury.
1914		H. Kemp ‘The Harvest Fly’s Complaint’ in Cry of Youth 71: Try to catch a freight and leave, but find they’ve closed down tight / On letting hoboes beat their way, and jug them left and right.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 11/8: [headline] Jimmy Jugged. Tricky Thief’s Tricky Theft.
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 28: We don’t know what it was Westman was jugged for.
1923		E. O’Neill Hairy Ape Act VI: What did they jug yuh for?
1936		G. Greene Gun for Sale (1973) 18: It’ll be a bigger laugh than ever if you get jugged for something you didn’t do.
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 61: I don’t care a blast for anybody. Let ’em jug me if they like.
1955		W. Henry Who Rides with Wyatt 146: All right, Earp, go ahead and jug me. See how long the lock holds!
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 805: jug – Solitary; to imprison.
1967		J. Schaefer Mavericks (1968) 139: What did you have them deputies jug me for this time?

2. (UK Und.) to rob someone as they leave a bank; thus jugging n.

1931

‘English Und. Sl.’ in Variety 8 Apr. n.p.: Jugging — Waiting to rob someone coming out of a bank.

3. (US und.) to break into a safe.

2012

T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 112: The second safe was a lot newer and more compact. I could probably jug it with the right tools.