slug
1 (slŭg)
[Perhaps from slug2 (from its shape).]
noun
- A round bullet larger than buckshot.
- Informal
- A shot of liquor.
- An amount of liquid, especially liquor, that is swallowed in one gulp; a swig.
- A small metal disk for use in a vending or gambling machine, especially one used illegally.
- A lump of metal or glass prepared for further processing.
- Printing
- A strip of type metal, less than type-high and thicker than a lead, used for spacing.
- A line of cast type in a single strip of metal.
- A compositor's type line of identifying marks or instructions, inserted temporarily in copy.
- Physics The unit of mass that is accelerated at the rate of one foot per second per second when acted on by a force of one pound weight.
transitive verb: slugged, slug·ging, slugs.
- Printing To add slugs to.
- Informal To drink rapidly or in large gulps: slugged down a can of pop.
slug
2 (slŭg)
[Middle English slugge, sluggard, probably of Scandinavian origin.]
noun
- Any of various small, snaillike, chiefly terrestrial gastropod mollusks of the genus Limax and related genera, having a slow-moving elongated body with no shell or only a flat rudimentary shell on or under the skin.
- The smooth soft larva of certain insects, such as the sawfly.
- A slimy mass of aggregated amoeboid cells from which the sporophore of a cellular slime mold develops.
- Informal A sluggard.
slug
3 (slŭg)
[Possibly from slug1.]
transitive verb: slugged, slug·ging, slugs.
- To strike heavily, especially with the fist or a bat.
noun
- A hard heavy blow, as with the fist or a baseball bat.
slug
4 (slŭg)
[Probably from slug2.]
intransitive verb: slugged, slug·ging, slugs.
- To wait for or obtain a ride to work by standing at a roadside hoping to be picked up by a driver who needs another passenger to use the HOV lanes of a highway.
noun
- A commuter who slugs.