intransitive verb

• see go ape shit.

  by Anonymous, Jun 09 2008.

verb

• to phone or page excessively; to fill up the capacity of some electronic answering service (voice mail, answering machine, one's pager, etc.)

  My crazy ex keeps blowing up my cellphone.

  by Greg K., Tucson, AZ, USA, Jun 10 1999.

• a feeling of ecstasy brought about by the consumption of the drug MDMA (also known as "ecstasy", "X", "E", etc.)

  This is great X - I've been blowing up all night.

  by Anonymous, Jan 19 2000.

• to significantly increase in one's socio-economic status.

  I'm go blow up when my album is released.

  by Ugunda G., Akron, OH, USA, Oct 05 2001.

• to become extremely angry.

  He totally blew up at me after I wrecked his car.

  by Anonymous, Jan 04 2003.

intransitive verb

• to joke; KID.

  Ya buggin'.

  by Nelli M., Jul 27 2005.

• to be extremely excited.

  I'm buggin'!

  by Wendy R., Dallas, TX 75231, USA, May 10 2007.

• to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure; FREAK OUT.

  I was bugging after she got home.

  by Anonymous, Sep 28 2008.

noun

• An unwanted and unintended property of a program or piece of hardware, especially one that causes it to malfunction.

  There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backwards.

  The system crashed because of a hardware bug.

  Fred is a winner, but he has a few bugs. (i.e. Fred is a good guy, but he has a few personality problems).

  by The Jargon File, Aug 13 2009.

transitive verb

• to pester or annoy.

  Why do you keep bugging me? Go away.

  by Anonymous, Sep 28 2008.

origin

• Regarding the "unwanted and unintended property" meaning:
  
  Admiral Grace Hopper (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing the programming language COBOL) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a malfunction in the Harvard Mark II machine by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated "bug" in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads, "1545 Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of bug being found."
  
  This wording establishes that the term was already in use at the time in its current specific sense, and Hopper herself reports that the term "bug" was regularly applied to problems in radar electronics during WWII.
  
  Indeed, the use of "bug" to mean an industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's time, and a more specific and rather modern use can be found in an electrical handbook from 1896 (Hawkin's New Catechism of Electricity, Theo. Audel & Co.) which says, "The term "bug" is used to a limited extent to designate any fault or trouble in the connections or working of electric apparatus."
  
  It further notes that the term is said to have originated in quadruplex telegraphy and have been transferred to all electric apparatus.
  
  The latter observation may explain a common folk etymology of the term: that it came from telephone company usage, in which bugs in a telephone cable were blamed for noisy lines.
  
  Historians of the field inform us that the term was regularly used in the early days of telegraphy to refer to a variety of semi-automatic telegraphy keyers that would send a string of dots if you held them down. In fact, the Vibroplex keyers (which were among the most common of this type) even had a graphic of a beetle on them (and still do)! While the ability to send repeated dots automatically was very useful for professional morse code operators, these were also significantly trickier to use than the older manual keyers, and it could take some practice to ensure one didn't introduce extraneous dots into the code by holding the key down a fraction too long. In the hands of an inexperienced operator, a Vibroplex "bug" on the line could mean that a lot of garbled Morse would soon be coming your way.
  
  Further, the term has long been used among radio technicians to describe a device that converts electromagnetic field variations into acoustic signals. It is used to trace radio interference and look for dangerous radio emissions. Radio community usage derives from the roach-like shape of the first versions used by 19th century physicists. The first versions consisted of a coil of wire (roach body), with the two wire ends sticking out and bent back to nearly touch forming a spark gap (roach antennae). The bug is to the radio technician what the stethoscope is to the stereotypical medical doctor. This sense is almost certainly ancestral to modern use of "bug" meaning a covert monitoring device, but may also have contributed to the use of the term for the effects of radio interference itself.
  
  Actually, use of "bug" in the general sense of a disruptive event goes back to Shakespeare! (Henry VI, part III - Act V, Scene II: King Edward:
  
  "So, lie thou there. Die thou; and die our fear; For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all."
  
  In the first edition of Samuel Johnson's dictionary one meaning of "bug" is "A frightful object; a walking spectre." This is traced to "bugbear", a Welsh term for a variety of mythological monster which (to complete the circle) has recently been reintroduced into the popular lexicon through fantasy role-playing games. In any case, in jargon the word almost never refers to insects.
  
  A careful discussion of the etymological issues can be found in a paper by Fred R. Shapiro, 1987, "Entomology of the Computer Bug: History and Folklore", American Speech 62(4):376-378.
  
  As of late 1990, the NSWC still had the bug, but had unsuccessfully tried to get the Smithsonian to accept it. The present curator of their History of American Technology Museum didn't know this and agreed that it would make a worthwhile exhibit. It was moved to the Smithsonian in mid-1991, but due to space and money constraints was not actually exhibited for years afterwards.

  by The Jargon File, Aug 13 2009.

verb

• To get high.

  I can't wait to bug out with Jayme tonight!

  by Jackie R., Glen Gardner, NJ, USA, Feb 19 1999.

notes

• See bug.

  by Anonymous, Oct 01 2001.

verb

• to yell at someone; BLOW UP.

  Man, she really busted me out!

  by Eva, Feb 15 1998.

noun

• a bad tantrum. Also conniption fit. One "has" a conniption or conniption fit.

  He had a conniption over the dent in the car.

  He had a conniption fit over the dent in the car.

  by Melissa C., Phoenix, AZ, USA, Aug 28 2002.

adverb

• very; really; extremely.

  That is freak expensive.

  by Jon Lansel, Orlando, FL, USA, Dec 10 2002.

noun

• a person who is strange or different. A term of derision, typically used to dismiss someone outside of one's social clique. Also used as a playful tease.

  He is such a freak!

  by Kesha Edwards, Charlotte, NC, USA, Jun 04 1997.

• a person who is sexually adventurous. Can be either complementary or derogatory, depending on context.

  She's a freak, man. She had sex with the whole football team.

  by Shannon, Virginia, USA, Feb 02 1999.

• a person with odd sexual proclivities.

  That boy is a freak.

  by Diane J., Jan 13 2005.

verb

• to dance in a provocative or sexual manner. Usually involves gyrating bodies against each other. Also get (one's) freak on.

  I was freaking this guy at the dance last night.

  by christina m., Lompoc, CA, USA, Feb 15 1999.

• to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure. See also freak out.

  She freaked when she found out.

  by Anonymous, Jul 05 2007.

notes

• Also used as a replacement word for fuck.

  by Scott H., Garden Grove, CA, USA, Sep 03 2006.

verb

• to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure. Taken from Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Oct 01 2001.

intransitive verb

• become enraged; FREAK OUT.

  She went ape shit when she found out her boyfriend had cheated on her.

  If he finds out, he'll go ape shit.

  I scratched his Wipers LP, and he went ape shit!

  by Setebos, Berkeley, CA, USA, Apr 21 1998.

• to go crazy; FREAK OUT.

  He went ape shit when his girlfriend dumped him.

  by Ashley, AK, USA, Jul 06 1998.

verb

• to become enraged, lose one's temper; FREAK OUT.

  When she found out he lied, she went ballistic.

  by Patrick, Austin, TX, USA, Jun 18 1998.

verb

• to go insane. See also bananas.

  When I told him that his girlfriend left town, he went bananas.

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Oct 01 2001.

• to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure.

  by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Oct 01 2001.

verb

• to become extremely angry or upset; FREAK OUT.

  He went all batshit on her.

  by Katie G., St Louis, MO, USA, Mar 15 2002.

verb

• to go crazy.

  I'm about to go bejesus in here!

  by Nate B., Cleveland, OH, USA, Aug 05 2002.

verb

• to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure; FREAK OUT.

  I told her I was bisexual and she went bitchcakes!

  I went bitchcakes on the clerk at the pharmacy because she couldn't find my prescription.

  by Madyson Baran, Bethesda, MD, USA, Oct 24 1997.

verb

• to make one angry.

  She really hacks me off.

  by Anonymous, Sep 28 2008.

origin

• This may come from U.S. Navy slang, in which officers under discipline are sometimes said to be "in hack" and one may speak of "hacking off the C.O." (commanding officer.)

  by The Jargon File, Sep 28 2009.

verb

• to become extremely angry.

  I almost had a meltdown when I wrecked my jeep.

  by Roderick Montgomery, Terre Haute, IN, USA, Apr 17 1998.

verb

• to be nervous; FREAK OUT.

  Don't start Hershey squirtin' now... the cops won't catch us.

  by Veronica C., San Jose, CA, USA, Mar 15 1998.

• to expel diarrhea. Also take a Hershey squirt.

  I Hershey squirted my pants!

  I have to take a Hershey squirt.

  by Gordon M., Vashon, WA, USA, Jan 20 2003.

origin

• Hershey is a company that makes chocolate.

  by Brittany S., Frederick, MD, USA, Feb 29 2000.

noun

• anxiety experienced before making a phone call, especially to a member of the opposite sex.

  Dude, get over your pushbutton panic and just call her!

  by Anonymous, Jun 11 1998.

verb

• to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure; FREAK OUT, HAVE A FIT.

  When he hears you've been cheating on him, he's going to shit a cold purple Twinkie.

  by Anthony, Hazlet, NJ, USA, Dec 06 2002.