1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lug

LUG, a verb meaning to pull a heavy object, to drag, now mainly used colloquially. It is probably Scandinavian in origin; the Swedish lugg, forelock, lock of hair, gives lugga, to pull, tug; and “lug” in some north-eastern English dialects is still chiefly used in the sense of pulling a person’s hair. “Luggage,” passengers’ baggage, means by origin that which has to be “lugged” about. The Scandinavian word may be also the source of “lug,” in the sense of “ear,” in Scotland the regular dialectical word, and in English commonly applied to the ear-shaped handles of metal or earthenware pots, pitchers, &c. If so the word means something that can be pulled or tugged. This is also possibly the origin of the “lug” or “lug-sail,” a four-sided sail attached to a yard which is hung obliquely to the mast, whence probably the name “lugger” of a sailing-vessel with two or three masts and fore and aft lug-sails. The word may, however, be connected with the Dutch logger, a fishing-boat using drag-nets. “Lug” is also the name of a marine worm, Arenicola marina, used as bait.