: 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 (such 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
Noun (1)
he's always a slug in the morning, which is why he prefers to sleep late
knocked back another slug of whiskey Noun (2)
one well aimed slug on the head knocked him out Verb (2)
she got so angry that she slugged the back of the chair and knocked it over
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The rough texture of the shells not only discourages slugs and snails but also adds an aesthetic touch to garden beds and containers.
6.—Debbie Wolfe, Popular Science, 26 June 2024 Check your rose bushes for rose slugs, a common name for at least 2 species of sawflies whose larvae may be feeding on your plants.—Dawn Pettinelli, Hartford Courant, 15 June 2024
Verb
The former 12th-round draft pick slugged 20 homers in 73 games last season and 15 homers in 60 games before being called up the Bronx this year.—James O'Connell, New York Daily News, 3 July 2024 Hurricanes baseball history includes numerous stars such as 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun; 1998 first overall pick Pat Burrell; and Greg Vaughn, who slugged 50 homers in ’98.—Walter Villa, Miami Herald, 15 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for slug
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slug.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English slugge, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect slugga to walk sluggishly
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