the.com/peg
A humble wedge of wood quietly holding up your laundry, your tent, and your fragile dignity
means A short pin or fastener of wood, metal, or plastic used to hang, hold, fix, or mark something in place.
from From Middle English 'pegge,' likely borrowed from a Low German or Dutch source — compare Dutch 'pegge,' a plug or pin. The family clusters around old Germanic words for small pointed bits of wood jammed into things, which is exactly what a peg has always been: the unglamorous nub that keeps the whole arrangement from falling down.
- clothespin origin
- Carved one-piece pegs predate the spring-clip by centuries
- sound
- Guitar tuning pegs bend pitch by simple string tension
- phrase
- A square peg won't sit in a round hole
- pirate myth
- Real peg legs were rare; infections usually won first
- currency
- Pegged currencies lock value to another nation's money
peg solitaire — board game played since 17th century involving jumping pegs to eliminate them
clothes peg — wooden or plastic clip used to hang laundry on clotheslines worldwide
tent peg — stake driven into ground to anchor tent guy-lines during camping