slug

¹slug

noun \ˈsləg\

Definition of SLUG

1

: sluggard

2

: a lump, disk, or cylinder of material (as plastic or metal): as

a (1) : a musket ball (2) : bullet

b : a piece of metal roughly shaped for subsequent processing

c : a $50 gold piece

d : a disk for insertion in a slot machine; especially : one used illegally instead of a coin

3

: any of numerous chiefly terrestrial pulmonate gastropods (order Stylommatophora) that are found in most parts of the world where there is a reasonable supply of moisture and are closely related to the land snails but are long and wormlike and have only a rudimentary shell often buried in the mantle or entirely absent

4

: a smooth soft larva of a sawfly or moth that creeps like a mollusk

5

a : a quantity of liquor drunk in one swallow

b : a detached mass of fluid (as water vapor or oil) that causes impact (as in a circulating system)

6

a : a strip of metal thicker than a printer's lead

b : a line of type cast as one piece

c : a usually temporary type line serving to instruct or identify

7

: the gravitational unit of mass in the foot-pound-second system to which a pound force can impart an acceleration of one foot per second per second and which is equal to the mass of an object weighing 32 pounds

Illustration of SLUG

Origin of SLUG

Middle English slugge, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect slugga to walk sluggishly

First Known Use: 15th century

Rhymes with SLUG

bug, chug, drug, dug, fug, hug, jug, lug, mug, plug, pug, rug, shrug, smug, snug, thug, trug, tug, vug

²slug

transitive verb

sluggedslug·ging

Definition of SLUG

1

: to add a printer's slug to

2

: to drink in gulps —often used with down

First Known Use of SLUG

1912

³slug

noun

Definition of SLUG

: a heavy blow especially with the fist

Origin of SLUG

perhaps from slug to load with slugs

First Known Use: 1830

⁴slug

transitive verb

sluggedslug·ging

Definition of SLUG

1

: to strike heavily with or as if with the fist or a bat

2

: fight 4b —usually used in the phrase slug it out

First Known Use of SLUG

circa 1861

slug

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Any species of gastropod that glides along on a broad tapered foot and has no shell or one that is merely an internal plate or a series of granules. Most slugs use the mantle cavity (see mollusk) as a lung. Slugs have a soft, slimy body and live in moist habitats on land (except for one freshwater species). All are hermaphroditic. In temperate regions, the common slugs eat fungi and decaying leaves. Some tropical species eat plants, and some European species eat other snails and earthworms. See also nudibranch.