keg

Meaning

Noun

A round, traditionally wooden container of lesser capacity than a barrel, often used to store beer.

Verb

1. To store in a keg.
2. The pulling down of someone's trousers or kegs. Oftentimes as a kind of bullying or prank.

Synonyms

barrel

cask

kegful

small barrel

firkin

box

📦

chest

drum

🥁

tank

tub

small barrel/cask

small cask

bbl

pail

metal drum

barrelful

vat

barrels

bucket

🪣

cade

beer barrel

caskful

cistern

storage-jar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɛɡ/

Etymology

From Middle English kag, from Old Norse kaggi (“keg”), likely a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kagô (“bush, branch, stalk, stump”). Cognate with Icelandic kaggi (“keg; cask”), Norwegian kagg (“keg”), Swedish kagge (“keg”), Low German kag (“vessel; craft”), Dutch kaag (“vessel; craft”). Compare also English cag and chag.
The modern form keg with /ɛ/ is due to a dialectal raising of /a///æ/ to /ɛ/ before velars (cf. fleg); the expected form is preserved in dialectal /kæɡ/, while /keɪɡ/ reflects further raising that occurred in some dialects.