The plural noun “dugs” is an older, often Dialectal term for a woman’s breasts or an animal’s udders or teats. In poetry, it may create a deliberately earthy, comic, or unrefined tone rather than the elevated tone associated with words such as “bosom.” Jonathan Swift uses it satirically in A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed to make Corinna’s body seem grotesquely physical and to undermine idealized descriptions of feminine beauty.

“Dug” can refer to a breast, but it also commonly means an animal’s teat or udder. This association can make the term sound intentionally coarse or demeaning when applied to a person. The word occurs in older English and survives in some regional varieties, particularly in Scottish and northern British speech, though it is uncommon in formal modern English. In eighteenth-century satire, as in Swift’s poem, such bodily vocabulary often serves to puncture romantic or idealized portrayals of beauty. Related terms include “teat,” “udder,” “breast,” “bosom,” and the more literary “paps.” “Bosom” is usually gentler or more elevated in tone, while “dugs” is notably blunt and physical.