Illustration of slug
- slug 3
1
: sluggard
2
: a lump, disk, or cylinder of material (such as plastic or metal): such 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 (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
slugged; slugging
: a heavy blow especially with the fist
slugged; slugging
1
: to strike heavily with or as if with the fist or a bat
2
: fight sense 4b
—usually used in the phrase slug it out
Synonyms
Noun (1)
- couch potato
- deadbeat
- do-nothing
- drone
- idler
- layabout
- lazybones
- loafer
- lotus-eater
- slouch
- slugabed
- sluggard
Noun (2)
- bang
- bash
- bat
- beat
- belt
- biff
- blow
- bop
- box
- buffet
- bust
- chop
- clap
- clip
- clout
- crack
- cuff
- dab
- douse [British]
- fillip
- hack
- haymaker
- hit
- hook
- knock
- larrup [dialect]
- lash
- lick
- pelt
- pick
- plump
- poke
- pound
- punch
- rap
- slam
- slap
- smack
- smash
- sock
- spank
- stinger
- stripe
- stroke
- swat
- swipe
- switch
- thud
- thump
- thwack
- wallop
- welt
- whack
- wham
- whop
- whap
Verb (2)
Examples of slug in a Sentence
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
Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2024
Slimy slugs and snails are thriving in Los Angeles, California and appear to prefer urban life.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 7 Nov. 2024
David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024
The Yankees have been built around getting runners on base and slugging their way into wins, ranking #4 during the regular season.
—Maury Brown, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for slug 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
But for a scientific team who found a remarkable creature, literally beyond the depths of where conventional slugs dwell, the line becomes quite a compliment.
—Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2024
Slimy slugs and snails are thriving in Los Angeles, California and appear to prefer urban life.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 7 Nov. 2024
Verb
This came a year after Bellinger was a National League MVP candidate after slugging 26 home runs with a .881 OPS.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2024
The Yankees have been built around getting runners on base and slugging their way into wins, ranking #4 during the regular season.
—Maury Brown, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for slug
Dictionary Entries Near slug
Cite this Entry
“Slug.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slug. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
slug
1 of 3 nounslug
2 of 3 noun
: a heavy blow especially with the fist
slug
3 of 3 verb
slugged; slugging
: to strike heavily with or as if with the fist or a bat
Etymology
Noun
Middle English slugge "a lazy person"; of Scandinavian origin
Noun
perhaps from earlier slug (verb) "to load (a weapon) with slugs"
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