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
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
Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2025
The slugs are attracted to the yeasty odor and drown.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 3 Apr. 2025
Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
Think of home runs in baseball, and the fan’s mind races to the mammoth distances a ball can fly when slugged right on the nose, or a history-making chase that captivates a nation.
—Dan Gelston, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slug
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Noun
Bristly rose slug The bristly rose slug is the most common rose slug in California and is the larva of a sawfly.
—Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2025
The slugs are attracted to the yeasty odor and drown.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 3 Apr. 2025
Verb
That’s a 41-homer difference — a full season of elite slugging ahead of any other home run hitter.
—Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2025
Think of home runs in baseball, and the fan’s mind races to the mammoth distances a ball can fly when slugged right on the nose, or a history-making chase that captivates a nation.
—Dan Gelston, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slug
Cite this Entry
“Slug.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slug. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.
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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