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
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2025
Although a gunshot from a flintlock pistol lasts only an eye blink, the sound is composed of numerous elements: the squeeze of the trigger, the strike of the firing mechanism against the flint, the ignition of the powder, the slug’s passage through the barrel, the report, the impact.
—Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025
Instead, Volpe sacrificed most of his slugging potential to put the ball in play, and not all contact is created equal.
—Chris Kirschner, The Athletic, 20 Jan. 2025
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
Gastropods are a class of mollusks that include snails, slugs and whelks.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 3 Jan. 2025
Although a gunshot from a flintlock pistol lasts only an eye blink, the sound is composed of numerous elements: the squeeze of the trigger, the strike of the firing mechanism against the flint, the ignition of the powder, the slug’s passage through the barrel, the report, the impact.
—Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025
Verb
But that one year was extremely good – Robert slugged 38 home runs with 36 doubles, 80 RBI, and 90 runs scored while winning his first Silver Slugger Award.
—Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025
Instead, Volpe sacrificed most of his slugging potential to put the ball in play, and not all contact is created equal.
—Chris Kirschner, The Athletic, 20 Jan. 2025
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 9 Feb. 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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