slug

slug
   Used insultingly to a person, this appears to be a transferred use of the word for a creature related to the snail, but with no shell. In fact, the word was originally applied to a sluggard, a slow, lazy person and was transferred to the garden creature several centuries later. When Luciana says to Dromio, in Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (2:ii) ‘thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot,’ it is ‘drone’ and ‘snail’ which are being transferred to human application. You fat slug’ is used insultingly to Piggy in The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding.

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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Synonyms:
(without a shell) / , , , , ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • slug — slug; slug·fest; slug·gard·ly; slug·gard·ness; slug·gish; slug·gish·ly; slug·gish·ness; slug·horn; slug·wood; slug·abed; slug·gard; slug·ger; slug·ging; …   English syllables

  • slug — slug1 [slug] n. [ME slugge, slow, clumsy person or thing < Scand, as in Swed dial. slogga, to be sluggish < IE base * (s)leu , to hang loosely, lax > SLUDGE] 1. any of a large number of small, gastropod mollusks, esp. the ones resembling …   English World dictionary

  • Slug — Slug, n. [OE. slugge slothful, sluggen to be slothful; cf. LG. slukk low spirited, sad, E. slack, slouch, D. slak, slek, a snail.] 1. A drone; a slow, lazy fellow; a sluggard. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. A hindrance; an obstruction. [Obs.] Bacon.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slug — Slug, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Slugged}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Slugging}.] 1. To load with a slug or slugs; as, to slug a gun. [1913 Webster] 2. To strike heavily. [Cant or Slang] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slug — Slug, v. i. To move slowly; to lie idle. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] To slug in sloth and sensual delight. Spenser. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slug — steht für: eine Maßeinheit des Angloamerikanischen Maßsystems die NSLU2, ein NAS Gerät von Linksys motorloses Triebfahrzeug deren elektrische Fahrmotoren durch eine andere Lokomotive mit Energie versorgt werden, siehe Slug (Schienenfahrzeug) ein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • slug — Ⅰ. slug [1] ► NOUN 1) a tough skinned terrestrial mollusc which lacks a shell and secretes a film of mucus for protection. 2) an amount of alcoholic liquor that is gulped or poured. 3) a bullet. ► VERB (slugged, slugging) …   English terms dictionary

  • Slug — Slug, v. t. To make sluggish. [Obs.] Milton. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slug — Slug, v. i. To become reduced in diameter, or changed in shape, by passing from a larger to a smaller part of the bore of the barrel; said of a bullet when fired from a gun, pistol, or other firearm. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slug — es la masa a la cual una fuerza de una libra fuerza (lbf) le imprime una aceleración de 1 ft/s². Esta unidad se utiliza para medir la masa, cuando la fuerza se mide en libras fuerza. 1 slug es aproximadamente igual a: ● 14,593902 kilogramos …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Slug — Slug. См. Вырубка. (Источник: «Металлы и сплавы. Справочник.» Под редакцией Ю.П. Солнцева; НПО Профессионал , НПО Мир и семья ; Санкт Петербург, 2003 г.) …   Словарь металлургических терминов

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