Standard Lemma guide

puggle

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈpʌɡl̩/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʌɡəl

1

noun

Meaning 1

A baby monotreme (echidna or platypus).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia

Examples

  • 2003, Robert Burton, The International Wildlife Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition, Volume 18: SOL-SWA, page 2488, The puggle, which grows rapidly, remains in the pouch until its spines are sufficiently developed that the mother must eject it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A small mixed breed of dog created by mating a pug and beagle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 2007 May, Vicki Constantine Croke, The Problem With Puggles, Prevention, page 208, Jake Gyllenhaal and Sylvester Stallone are among the puggle lovers, but so are a slew of regular people who want in on the tawny, fawny, puppy-faced action and will pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for the pleasure.
  • 2009, Milwaukee Magazine, Volume 34, Issues 1-6, page 67, The menagerie for sale at this auction included two black puggles with hernias, a French bulldog with one ear, a 3-month old Yorkshire terrier with only one testicle and a badly bow-legged bulldog.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To coax (a rabbit) from a burrow by poking a stick down the hole and moving it about; to delve into a hole in order to locate an animal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, regional

Examples

  • 1833, "Javelin," Two Days with the East Sussex, in Sporting Magazine, 2nd Series, Volume 6, page 236, In concluding my remarks on the East Sussex Hounds, I must observe, that perhaps they have the worst and most difficult country in the world to hunt through, intersected with immense woods, and slotted with some thousands of sheep, besides being naturally a very cold-scenting soil; consequently the hounds puggle more than is pleasing to the eye, have little or no dash, but are very patient and very perfect in working up to their fox, and are probably much surer killers than any other hounds [...] .

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To poke around a hole with a stick, as to explore, remove obstacles, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, regional

Examples

  • 1828, "Philip Fidget," The Confessions of Philip Fidget, in The Spirit and Manners of the Age, New Series, Volume 1, page 417, I am no sooner seated by a fire, but my hand instinctively fumbles after the poker, and I proceed to puggle the glowing embers, until (except timely warning prevent) I have displaced the whole into the fender.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Transferal of trademarked name of a range of soft toys from the mid-1970s which superficially resemble baby echidnas.

Blend of pug + beagle

British dialect (Hertfordshire, Essex), from pug (“to poke”) + -le (“frequentative suffix”).