I heard the term "bugging out" being used on a TV show, but I wasn't certain what it meant by the context. I looked it up, but it was only in Urban Dictionary, which I don't much trust. As usual, they had a bunch of definitions, but this was the first one:

quote:

(1)To preform an action, or display a behavior that contradicts your normal persona.(2)To unintentionally act like your under the influence of a hallucenogenic drug while sober.(3)Conduct unbecoming of a person of sound mind and body.(4)Brief mental impairment.

Have you heard of the phrase? If so, do these definitions jive with your definition?

The only times I've ever heard it, it meant to hastily depart. I recall it from some episodes of MASH where the North Koreans were advancing and the unit had to bug out to a safer location.

"Buggin' Out" by A Tribe Called Quest from about 1991

As Bob said, I too associate it with, "To the rear, CHARGE!!!" The term was used more than once on M*A*S*H*. It was commonly used that way in the 1970s, but with a less urgent connotation.

The OED says

quote:

slang (chiefly U.S.).
intr. To get out; to leave quickly; to ‘scram’.
1953 E. Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. (1961) 1304/2 If one were to ‘swan’ southward with the purpose of moving on from the enemy, the act would be called ‘bugging out’.

I guess the "act abnormally" or "act like you're tripping" meaning is more recent.

Buggin' Out is the name of a character in Do the Right Thing.

Buggin Out by Space Travelers - not safe for work!

I am surprised it is the OED and not other dictionaries.

It appears in several - see OneLook. Several only give the "bulge outward" (as with eyes) meaning.

"Bug out" could be the slogan for an exterminator.

While MASH mentioned the term often, it was apparently part of Army terminology during the Korean War, and was still extant while I was in the service during the early '60s. It was less 'to move away from an advancing enemy" and more "to leave an area hurriedly for any reason".

quote:

It appears in several

I see what I did - I only put "bugging out" in; that's how I'd seen it. Thanks, arnie.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

According to MW, "bug out' (flee from battle in panic) was first cited in 1950, which would be consistent with the Korean conflict. However, I saw a video yesterday about the Battle of the Bulge (1944) in which an officer relates how he was told by a soldier that "everyone was bugging out" because of the German attack. I don't know if the soldier actually used those words or if, at the later date, the officer was paraphrasing.

Very interesting, Proof. It's possible they were using that phrase then. Shu used to volunteer for the OED in looking for the origin of words, and he often found that there were earlier citations that those cited in the OED.

Can't say I've used this one in a few decades, but in my day, 'Guess I'll bug out' was equivalent to , 'Well, I'm outta here'

There was not only the verb "bug out" but it was also a noun "a bug-out," the process of leaving hurriedly.