Slugs

slug ¹  (slg)

n.

1. A round bullet larger than buckshot.

2. Informal

a. A shot of liquor.

b. An amount of liquid, especially liquor, that is swallowed in one gulp; a swig.

3. A small metal disk for use in a vending or gambling machine, especially one used illegally.

4. A lump of metal or glass prepared for further processing.

5. Printing

a. A strip of type metal, less than type-high and thicker than a lead, used for spacing.

b. A line of cast type in a single strip of metal.

c. A compositor's type line of identifying marks or instructions, inserted temporarily in copy.

6. 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.

tr.v. slugged, slug·ging, slugs

1. Printing To add slugs to.

2. Informal To drink rapidly or in large gulps: slugged down a can of pop.

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[Perhaps from slug² (from its shape).]

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slug ²  (slg)

n.

1. 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.

2. The smooth soft larva of certain insects, such as the sawfly.

3. A slimy mass of aggregated amoeboid cells from which the sporophore of a cellular slime mold develops.

4. Informal A sluggard.

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[Middle English slugge, sluggard, probably of Scandinavian origin.]

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slug ³  (slg)

tr.v. slugged, slug·ging, slugs

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

n.

A hard heavy blow, as with the fist or a baseball bat.

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[Possibly from slug¹.]