hug

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
hug/hʌɡ/

▶verb (hugs, hugging, hugged)

• 1 embrace (someone) tightly.

  ■ hold (something) tightly against one's body: he hugged his knees to his chest.

• 2 keep close to: a few craft hugged the shore.

▶noun an act of hugging.

■ a squeezing grip in wrestling.

– derivatives
huggable adjective,
hugger noun.

– origin C16: prob. of Scand. origin.