bug

noun

• 1 informal a harmful microorganism, typically a bacterium: their ham was found to be contaminated with food bugs
• an illness caused by a microorganism:he’d just recovered from a flu bug
• [with modifier] an enthusiastic interest in something:they caught the sailing bug

• 2chiefly North American a small insect: a thick green scum which crawls with bugs, centipedes, and worse

• 3 (also true bug) Entomology an insect of a large order distinguished by having mouthparts that are modified for piercing and sucking.

  • Order Hemiptera: see Hemiptera

• 4a concealed miniature microphone, used for secret eavesdropping or recording: they cleaned out the bugs and wiretaps

• 5an error in a computer program or system: a custom program we used developed a bug

verb (bugs, bugging, bugged)

• 1conceal a miniature microphone in (a room or telephone) in order to eavesdrop on or record someone’s conversations secretly:the telephones in the presidential palace were bugged
• record or eavesdrop on (a conversation) using a concealed microphone: she fears that her conversations were bugged

• 2 informal annoy or bother (someone):a persistent reporter was bugging me