/ slʌg; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
a small soft creature, like a snail without a shell, that moves very slowly and often eats garden plants
2.
( informal ) a small amount of a strong alcoholic drink :
He took another slug of whisky.
3.
( informal , especially NAmE ) a bullet
4.
( NAmE , informal ) a piece of metal shaped like a coin used to get things from machines, etc., sometimes illegally
■ verb ( -gg- ) [ vn ]
1.
( informal ) to hit sb hard, especially with your closed hand
2.
( in baseball ) to hit the ball hard
•
IDIOMS
- slug it out
••
WORD ORIGIN
noun late Middle English (in the sense sluggard ): probably of Scandinavian origin; compare with Norwegian dialect slugg large heavy body. Sense 1 dates from the early 18th cent.
verb mid 19th cent.: of unknown origin; compare with the verb slog .