plug

From Dutch plug, from Middle Dutch plugge (“peg, plug”), from Old Dutch *pluggi, from Proto-West Germanic *plugi. Further origin unknown. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *plugjaz, but the word seems originally restricted to northern continental West Germanic: compare German Low German Plüg, Norwegian plug (“peg, wedge”, probably borrowed from Middle Low German), German Pflock (“peg”, restricted to Central German and phonetically divergent). Possibly akin to Lithuanian plúkti (“to strike, hew”).

• enPR: plŭg, IPA^(key): /plʌɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

plug (plural plugs)

2. (electricity) A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one.

   I pushed the plug back into the electrical socket and the lamp began to glow again.

   1. (loosely) An electric socket: wall plug.
3. Any piece of wood, metal, or other substance used to stop or fill a hole.

   Synonyms: bung, dowel, stopper, stopple

   Pull the plug out of the tub so it can drain.

4. (US) A flat oblong cake of pressed tobacco.

   He preferred a plug of tobacco to loose chaw.

5. (US, slang) A high, tapering silk hat.
6. (US, slang) A worthless horse.

   Synonyms: (racing) bum, dobbin, hack, jade, nag

   That sorry old plug is ready for the glue factory!

7. (dated) Any worn-out or useless article.
8. (dated, slang) A book that fails to sell.
   • 1886, The Publishers Weekly, volume 29, page 25:

     Stack all new and fresh, composed of the fast-selling standard books only — no old plugs or unsalable books whatever.

   • 1997, The Book Collector, volume 46, page 184:

     Many New York booksellers promoted the impression that Quaritch had sent only 'plugs' (i.e. unsaleable books).

9. (construction) A block of wood let into a wall to afford a hold for nails.
10. (slang) A promotion (act of promoting) of a product (such as a book, film or play) or other thing, concept, etc, for example during an interview or a commercial.
    • 1973 December 8, A. Nolder Gay, “Coping With Christmas”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 25, page 3:

      Department store decorations up before Thanksgiving, Christmas cards all over the place, TV full of plugs for fifty-dollar toys that inner-city kids watching can never expect to receive, parents spending what they can't afford and deluging their kids with the annual orgy of materialist values […]

    During the interview, the author put in a plug for his latest novel.

    She used her televised tour of the zoo to work in another plug for conservation.

11. (geology) A body of once molten rock that hardened in a volcanic vent. Usually round or oval in shape.

    Pressure built beneath the plug in the caldera, eventually resulting in a catastrophic explosion of pyroclastic shrapnel and ash.

12. (fishing) A type of lure consisting of a rigid, buoyant or semi-buoyant body and one or more hooks.

    The fisherman cast the plug into a likely pool, hoping to catch a whopper.

13. (horticulture) A small seedling grown in a tray from expanded polystyrene or polythene filled usually with a peat or compost substrate.
14. (jewelry) A short cylindrical piece of jewellery commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings, especially in the ear.

    Synonym: earspool

    Hyponym: earflare (Ancient Maya)

15. (slang) A drug dealer.
    • 2017, Gucci Mane, Neil Martinez-Belkin, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, page 32:

      He saw me catch a trap and leave the house of a drug dealer. That's why he targeted me. He could have easily blown my ass off right then and there for lying, but for some reason he didn't. He just left. I biked back to my plug's spot and told him […]

16. A branch from a water-pipe to supply a hose.
17. (aviation) A standard, modular fuselage component that can be added or removed.
    • 2010, Ajoy Kumar Kundu, Aircraft Design, page 165:

      Add front and aft closures to the fuselage midsection. Addition or subtraction of fuselage plugs, to a maximum of five rows, conveniently distributed on each side of wing, is possible.

• → Gulf Arabic: بلاك (blāk)
• → Burmese: ပလတ် (pa.lat)
• → Japanese: プラグ (puragu)

plug (third-person singular simple present plugs, present participle plugging, simple past and past participle plugged)

1. (transitive) To stop with a plug; to make tight by stopping a hole.

   He attempted to plug the leaks with some caulk.

2. (transitive) To promote (something, especially a product or service); to mention (something) as if promoting or advertising it.

   The main guest on the show just kept plugging his latest movie: it got so tiresome.

   Kennedy went on nationwide speaking tour to plug environmental conservation.

   • 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2019:

     He [Mike Skinner] treats the gig as an opportunity repeatedly to plug the after-party, where he will be DJing.

3. (intransitive, informal) To persist or continue with something.

   Keep plugging at the problem until you find a solution.

4. (transitive, slang) To shoot (someone) with a bullet.
   • 1884, H. Rider Haggard, The Witch's Head

     I am awfully glad that you kept your nerve and plugged him; it would have been better if you could have nailed him through the right shoulder, which would not have killed him...

5. (transitive, slang) To have sex with; to penetrate sexually.

   I’d love to plug him with my strap-on.

6. (transitive, slang) To ingest a drug rectally.

   Synonym: boof

• (persist): keep up, soldier on; see also Thesaurus:persevere
• (shoot a bullet): bust a cap, pop, ventilate
• (have sex with): drill, pound, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

• gulp

• pllug

From a South Slavic language, from Proto-Slavic *plugъ (“plough”), further derived from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz (“plough”), *plōguz (“plough”). Compare Serbo-Croatian плуг, Bulgarian плуг (plug), and English plough.^[1] Replaced parmendë in most dialects, which came to mean “wooden plough”.

• IPA^(key): /pluɡ/

plug m (plural plugje, definite plugu, definite plural plugjet)

1. steel plough
2. an instance of tilling

• parmendë

• plugoj, plugim

• plugu

From a Slavic language, compare Proto-Slavic *plugъ, borrowed from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz, *plōguz (“plough”). Compare also Daco-Romanian plug.

plug n (plural pluguri)

1. plough

   Synonyms: aratru, aletrã, dãmãljiugu, paramendã

From early modern plugge, from Middle Dutch *plugge, from Old Dutch *pluggi, from Proto-Germanic *plugjaz. Despite being attested only very late, it has certain cognates in several other Germanic languages, including Middle Low German plugge, Middle High German plugge, Swedish plugg.

• IPA^(key): /plʏx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: plug
• Rhymes: -ʏx

plug m (plural pluggen, diminutive plugje n)

1. wall plug (used to hold nails and screws)

• oorplug

Borrowed from English plug.

• IPA^(key): /plœɡ/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

plug m (plural plugs)

1. butt-plug

From a Slavic language, compare Proto-Slavic *plugъ, itself of Germanic origin.

plug n (plural plugur, definite singular plugu, definite plural plugurle)

1. plough

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic плоугъ (plugŭ), from Proto-Slavic *plugъ, itself of Germanic origin.

• IPA^(key): [pluɡ]

• Audio:

  (file)

plug n (plural pluguri)

1. plough

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *plugъ, itself of Germanic origin.

• IPA^(key): /plûɡ/

plȕg m (Cyrillic spelling плу̏г)

1. plough

• → Ottoman Turkish: پلوغ (pulluğ), փիւլուղ (püluğ) — Armeno-Turkish
  • Turkish: pulluk

• “plug”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

From Proto-Slavic *plugъ, itself of Germanic origin.

• IPA^(key): /plúːk/, /plúk/

plȗg or plȕg m inan

1. plough (device pulled through the ground in order to break it upon into furrows for planting)

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	plúg
gen. sing.	plúga
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	plúg	plúga	plúgi
genitive (rodȋlnik)	plúga	plúgov	plúgov
dative (dajȃlnik)	plúgu	plúgoma	plúgom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	plúg	plúga	plúge
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	plúgu	plúgih	plúgih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	plúgom	plúgoma	plúgi

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	plùg
gen. sing.	plúga
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	plùg	plúga	plúgi
genitive (rodȋlnik)	plúga	plúgov	plúgov
dative (dajȃlnik)	plúgu	plúgoma	plúgom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	plùg	plúga	plúge
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	plúgu	plúgih	plúgih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	plúgom	plúgoma	plúgi

• “plug”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “plug”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references