SLUG (slugged, slugging)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: slugged    , slugging   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does slug mean? 

• SLUG (noun)
  The noun SLUG has 8 senses:

1. a projectile that is fired from a gun

2. a unit of mass equal to the mass that accelerates at 1 foot/sec/sec when acted upon by a force of 1 pound; approximately 14.5939 kilograms

3. a counterfeit coin

4. an idle slothful person

5. an amount of an alcoholic drink (usually liquor) that is poured or gulped

6. a strip of type metal used for spacing

7. any of various terrestrial gastropods having an elongated slimy body and no external shell

8. (boxing) a blow with the fist

  Familiarity information: SLUG used as a noun is common.

• SLUG (verb)
  The verb SLUG has 2 senses:

1. strike heavily, especially with the fist or a bat

2. be idle; exist in a changeless situation

  Familiarity information: SLUG used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SLUG (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A projectile that is fired from a gun

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bullet; slug

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

missile; projectile (a weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a targets but is not self-propelled)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "slug"):

dumdum; dumdum bullet (a soft-nosed small-arms bullet that expands when it hits a target and causes a gaping wound)

rubber bullet (a bullet made of hard rubber; designed for use in crowd control)

rifle ball (a bullet designed to be fired from a rifle; no longer made spherical in shape)

full metal jacket (a lead bullet that is covered with a jacket of a harder metal (usually copper))

Holonyms ("slug" is a part of...):

cartridge (ammunition consisting of a cylindrical casing containing an explosive charge and a bullet; fired from a rifle or handgun)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A unit of mass equal to the mass that accelerates at 1 foot/sec/sec when acted upon by a force of 1 pound; approximately 14.5939 kilograms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

mass unit (a unit of measurement for mass)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A counterfeit coin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

coin (a flat metal piece (usually a disc) used as money)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An idle slothful person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

slug; sluggard

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

bum; do-nothing; idler; layabout; loafer (person who does no work)

Derivation:

slug (be idle; exist in a changeless situation)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An amount of an alcoholic drink (usually liquor) that is poured or gulped

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Context example:

he took a slug of hard liquor

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

alcohol; alcoholic beverage; alcoholic drink; inebriant; intoxicant (a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A strip of type metal used for spacing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

slug; type slug

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

type metal (an alloy of tin and lead and antimony used to make printing type)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Any of various terrestrial gastropods having an elongated slimy body and no external shell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

gastropod; univalve (a class of mollusks typically having a one-piece coiled shell and flattened muscular foot with a head bearing stalked eyes)

Holonyms ("slug" is a member of...):

family Limacidae; Limacidae (slugs)

Sense 8

Meaning:

(boxing) a blow with the fist

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

biff; clout; lick; poke; punch; slug

Context example:

I gave him a clout on his nose

Hypernyms ("slug" is a kind of...):

blow (a powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon)

Domain category:

boxing; fisticuffs; pugilism (fighting with the fists)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "slug"):

haymaker; knockout punch; KO punch; Sunday punch (a hard punch that renders the opponent unable to continue boxing)

hook (a short swinging punch delivered from the side with the elbow bent)

jab (a quick short straight punch)

rabbit punch (a short chopping blow to the back of the neck)

sucker punch (an unexpected punch)

counter; counterpunch; parry (a return punch (especially by a boxer))

Derivation:

slug (strike heavily, especially with the fist or a bat)

• SLUG (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they slug    ... he / she / it slugs   
Past simple: slugged   
Past participle: slugged   
-ing form: slugging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strike heavily, especially with the fist or a bat

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

slog; slug; swig

Context example:

He slugged me so hard that I passed out

Hypernyms (to "slug" is one way to...):

hit (deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to slug his opponent

Derivation:

slug ((boxing) a blow with the fist)

slugger ((baseball) a ballplayer who is batting)

slugger (a boxer noted for an ability to deliver hard punches)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be idle; exist in a changeless situation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

idle; laze; slug; stagnate

Context example:

He slugged in bed all morning

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "slug"):

moon; moon around; moon on (be idle in a listless or dreamy way)

ride the bench; warm the bench (be out of the game)

daydream; moon (have dreamlike musings or fantasies while awake)

arse about; arse around; bum; bum about; bum around; frig around; fuck off; loaf; loll; loll around; lounge about; lounge around; waste one's time (be lazy or idle)

lie about; lie around (hang around idly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

slug; sluggard (an idle slothful person)

 Context examples 

EMT tumors are more frequent in some GEM models than others (ILK1 and GSK3), frequently do not express the transgenic oncogene and are associated with up regulation of snail or slug.

(Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition Tumor of the Mouse Mammary Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Understanding the roles of adhesive proteins in the slug glue would aid in the creation of a medical adhesive that can move and stretch yet still retain its strength and adhesiveness.

(New studies may bring slug-made glues closer to use in medicine, Wikinews)

The slug belongs to the sacoglossans, a group of more than 300 species that are such enthusiastic eaters of plants that many turn green and some resemble leaves.

(New sea slug species discovered near condominiums of Florida’s Cedar Key, National Science Foundation)

PM02734 is a derivative of a natural marine compound extracted from the sacoglossan sea slug, Elysia rufescens.

(Elisidepsin, NCI Thesaurus)

The sham chaplain came into our cells to exhort us, carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts, and so often did he come that by the third day we had each stowed away at the foot of our beds a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Previous studies have shown that, unlike many artificial adhesives, Arion slug glue is non-toxic to mammalian tissue.

(New studies may bring slug-made glues closer to use in medicine, Wikinews)

But this species, Olea hensoni, has gone rogue, joining two other sacoglossan species – Olea hansineensis in the northeast Pacific Ocean and Calliopaea bellula in the Mediterranean Sea – that abandoned a diet of seaweed to prey on the eggs of their fellow slugs and snails.

(New sea slug species discovered near condominiums of Florida’s Cedar Key, National Science Foundation)

Scientists observed eleven proteins found only in slug glue and used DNA recombination to produce usable amounts of each of these proteins.

(New studies may bring slug-made glues closer to use in medicine, Wikinews)

Feet from the raw bars and seashell-colored condominiums of Florida's Cedar Key, NSF-supported researchers at the Florida Museum of Natural History and California State University discovered a new species of sea slug that is a rare outlier in a group famous for being ultra-vegetarians.

(New sea slug species discovered near condominiums of Florida’s Cedar Key, National Science Foundation)

This glue remains both sticky and flexible and works even when the surface the slug is on is wet.

(New studies may bring slug-made glues closer to use in medicine, Wikinews)