Peg

Peg can be a proper noun, a woman's name, a verb, or a common noun.

Peg or Peggy is a short form of the forename Margaret. There are two main types of such shortenings: they are convenient for writing, e.g. in lists; or they are essentially spoken pet-names, and thus informal. (See Conventional abbreviations for forenames.)

Short form	Long form	Informal or written	Other short forms	Remarks
Peg or Peggy	Margaret	informal	informal: Madge; Mag(gie); Maisie; Meg; etc	written form: Margt

There is a list of similar names at Conventional abbreviations for forenames, as well as the category:short names

Note that any informal form may be spelled in different ways. Notably, any spelling listed that ends in '-ie' may be written with the ending '-y', and vice versa.

• The common noun 'a peg' means a small piece of wood or similar (hard) material, used either
  • to supply s projection on which one can hang something, e.g. a coat peg on a hat-stand (off-the-peg clothes are ready-MADE - those which one can buy simply by picking them from the peg on which they are hanging in the shop, as opposed to made-to-measure, or bespoke garments), etc; or
  • to fasten two things together, as a clothes-peg is used to fasten washing to a line on which it can dry.
  • In stringed musical instruments, the peg is the small piece of wood which the player turns to tune the instrument.
    • Peg-leg is a slang term for an artificial leg, particularly the old form carved from wood - which looks like a (large) peg.
    • In old-fashioned slang, a peg can be an alcoholic drink, usually of spirits such as brandy or whisky.
• The verb 'to peg' indicates the use of a peg, in one of the above senses.
  • One may peg washing out, by fixing it to a clothes line.
  • One may peg two things together (by using a fastener called a peg).
  • Governments can peg the price of a commodity, or the exchange rate, etc, by fixing it, or by fixing it to another currency ("The yuan was pegged to the dollar").
  • A groundsman may peg a football pitch by sticking pegs into the ground to show where he should mark the lines for a match.
    • To peg it is a slang term meaning 'to die'. It can also be rhyming slang, expressing the meaning of 'to leg it', i.e. 'to run away'.
  • 'To peg' is usually a phrasal verb.
    • In the nineteenth century, miners used to peg out their claims, as nowadays builders may start a house by pegging out the ground.
    • 'To peg down' is to fasten, often figuratively: "She tried not to answer my questions, but I pegged her down."
    • 'To peg away' at some task is to continue working conscientiously at it.