I. ˈsləg noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English slugge, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish & Norwegian dialect slugga to walk sluggishly, Norwegian dialect sluggje heavy slow person; akin to Low German slokeren to hang loosely, Middle Low German slūren to drag, trail — more at slur
1. : sluggard
2. archaic : something (as a vessel, vehicle, or animal) that is slow-moving or sluggish
3.
a. : any of numerous chiefly terrestrial pulmonate gastropods that are found in most parts of the world where there is a reasonable supply of moisture, are usually placed in the family Limacidae though the group is prob. polyphyletic including descendants of shelled snails of several families, are closely related to the land snails but have the shell rudimentary and often buried in the mantle or wanting entirely, have the body when extended long and fusiform with the entire lower surface constituting the foot upon which the animal typically crawls over a film of mucous secreted by the skin, are mostly herbivorous, rasp at herbage with a well-developed radula, and often become serious pests of cultivated plants — see garden slug
b. : sea slug 2
4. : a smooth soft larva of a sawfly or moth that creeps like a mollusk: as
a. : pear slug
b. : rose slug
[s]slug.jpg[/s] [
slug 3
]
II. verb
( slugged ; slugged ; slugging ; slugs )
Etymology: Middle English sluggen, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish dialect slugga to walk sluggishly
intransitive verb
1. : to rest idly : remain (as in bed) through laziness
slug in sloth and sensual delight — Edmund Spenser
2. : to move at a sluggish pace : loiter
slugging on their slow-gaited asses — William Tennant
transitive verb
1. : to spend (time) in dawdling or idling
the wretch who slugs his life away — James Thomson †1748
2. obsolete
a. : to make sluggish
b. : delay , hinder
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably from slug (I)
1. : a piece (as a lump, disk, or cylinder) of metal: as
a.
(1) : a musket ball
(2) : bullet ; especially : a revolver bullet
b.
(1) : a piece of crude metal : nugget
(2) : a piece of solid bulk metal roughly shaped for subsequent processing
c.
(1) : one of the private gold coins issued in California in 1849
(2) : a $50 gold piece
d.
(1) : a thin flat piece of metal formed from a sheet by punching : burr I 3c
(2) : a metal disk for insertion in a slot to operate an automatic machine ; especially : one used illegally instead of a coin in such a machine (as a turnstile)
2.
a. : a strip of metal similar to a printer's lead but usually 6 point or larger
b.
(1) : an identifying line placed by a compositor over matter set by him
(2) : a line carrying a short title temporarily placed over one portion of matter set in separate takes — called also galley slug
(3) : the short title itself
(4) : guideline
(5) : a line bearing a message or instruction (as a release date or the word more )
c. : a solid line either of characters or blank produced by a slugcasting machine
d.
(1) : a scratch or tear in a negative or plate
(2) : an anchor on a plate
3. : a heavy nail or stud driven in a shoe or boot sole in shoe manufacturing
4.
a. : a piece of magnetic material used to adjust the inductance of a coil
b. : a hollow metallic or dielectric cylinder used as a transforming element in a wave-guide system
5. : a large flat-faced disk prepared for the purpose of mixing the ingredients in the manufacture of compressed pharmaceutical tablets
6. : an irregular freshwater pearl — compare baroque
7. : a thickened place in a yarn or fabric caused usually by lint or knots
8. : a mass of half-roasted ore
9.
a. : a small amount of liquor ; especially : the quantity of drink taken in one swallow : shot , snifter
tossed down three stiff slugs of bourbon — Peter DeVries
b. : a detached mass of water or oil that causes impact or water hammer in a circulating system
10. : the gravitational unit of mass in the fps system to which a pound force can impart an acceleration of one foot per second per second
IV. verb
( slugged ; slugged ; slugging ; slugs )
transitive verb
1. : to load (as a gun) with slugs : insert a slug in
slug a rifle
slug a shoe
slug a coin machine
2. : to drive a soft lead bullet through (the bore of a rifle or pistol) in order to determine the exact bore diameter
3.
a. : to add a printer's slug to (as a story) : insert a slug in (letterpress matter)
b. : to anchor (a printing plate) to a metal base by soldering metal projections into holes in the base
intransitive verb
: to insert a slug (as in a shoe)
V. noun
( -s )
Etymology: perhaps from slug (III)
: a heavy blow ; especially : one given with the fist
an epidemic of slaps, slugs, and slights that has threatened to turn … bus conductors into public punching bags — New York Times
VI. verb
( slugged ; slugged ; slugging ; slugs )
transitive verb
1. : to strike (as a person) heavily (as with the fist or a blunt instrument)
slug a man with a length of pipe
2.
a. : to drive or propel (a baseball) by batting hard
slug the ball over the left field fence
b. : to achieve (as a two-base hit or a home run) by good batting
slug four homers in one ball game
intransitive verb
1. : to fight fiercely with a continuous exchange of heavy blows
the two fighters were still slugging as the round ended
the opposed armies slugged away in the same area for weeks
2. : to move forward or push on vigorously against difficulties : plow
a fighting leader who would slug on through — Fletcher Pratt
Synonyms: see strike