peg

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 a short piece of wood, metal or plastic used for holding things together, hanging things on, marking a position, etc: There's a peg near the door to hang your coat on. * Mark the boundary with pegs. 2 (also tent peg) a small pointed piece of wood or metal that you attach to the ropes of a tent and push into the ground in order to hold the tent in place 3 (also clothes peg) (both BrE) (AmE clothespin) a piece of wood or plastic used for attaching wet clothes to a clothes line 4 (also tuning peg) a wooden screw for making the strings of a musical instrument tighter or looser IDIOMS off the peg (BrE) (AmE off the rack) (of clothes) made to a standard average size and not made especially to fit you: He buys his clothes off the peg. * off-the-peg fashions bring / take sb down a peg (or two) to make sb realize that they are not as good, important, etc. as they think they are: He needed to be taken down a peg or two. a peg to hang sth on something that gives you an excuse or opportunity to discuss or explain sth: The character provides a peg to hang the writer's political ideas on. moreatSQUAREadj. verb (-gg-) 1 [VN] ~ sth (out) to fasten sth with pegs: All their wet clothes were pegged out on the line. * She was busy pegging her tent to the ground. 2 [VN] [usuallypassive] ~ sth (at / to sth) to fix or keep prices, wages, etc. at a particular level: Pay increases will be pegged at 5%. * Loan repayments are pegged to your income. * to peg the exchange rate to the dollar * Admission prices have been pegged. 3 [VN] ~ sb as sth (AmE, informal) to think of sb in a particular way: She pegged him as a big spender. IDIOMS see LEVELadj. PHRASALVERBS peg away (at sth) (informal, especially BrE) to continue working hard at sth or trying to achieve sth difficult peg sb/sth<->back (especially in sport) to stop sb/sth from winning or increasing the amount by which they are ahead: Each time we scored we were pegged back minutes later. peg out (BrE, informal) to die