- Joined
- Jul 28, 2009
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- English Teacher
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- British English
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- UK
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- UK
I've always heard it as 'peg out'. My own guess (no authority at all) is that this has something to do with the card game Cribbage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (which is scored by moving pegs on a board - see the picture at the top of that article). I think when you finish the game you 'peg out'. (But I'm not sure of that as I've never played it).
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You're quite right about cribbage (or "crib"). My dad and I used to play it for hours when I was a child and it's still one of my favourite card games, though finding an opponent gets harder and harder as people don't seem to play cards any more! But yes, you "peg out" when you finally move your peg beyond the finish line/hole! As you move your peg around the board, you are said to be "pegging". "In that last hand, I pegged 12 and my opponent pegged 8".
And yes, I have heard "peg out" for "to die" as well, but also "peg it".