Annoying or bothering someone repeatedly, or secretly placing a listening device to spy on conversations.
From 'bug' (noun), originally meaning an insect, which evolved to mean a small mechanical defect in the 1800s, particularly in Thomas Edison's lab. By the 1940s, 'bug' extended to mean a hidden microphone, and 'bugging' became the gerund form. The annoying sense likely derives from the idea of pestering insects.
Computer scientists inherited the term 'bug' for software errors from Edison's experiments, where actual insects got caught in machinery—so our term for code mistakes literally comes from real bugs causing real problems! And the spying meaning made it into James Bond, cementing its cool factor forever.
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