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plug

Pronunciation: /plʌg/
Translate plug | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of plug

noun

  • 1a piece of solid material fitting tightly into a hole and blocking it up:somewhere in the pipes there is a plug of ice blocking the flow
  • a circular piece of metal, rubber, or plastic used to stop the plughole of a bath or basin and keep the water in it: she pulled out the plug and got out on to the sodden bath mat
  • North American informal a baby’s dummy.
  • a mass of solidified lava filling the neck of a volcano.
  • (in gardening) a young plant or clump of grass with a small mass of soil protecting its roots, for planting out.
  • 2a device for making an electrical connection between an appliance and the mains, consisting of an insulated casing with metal pins that fit into holes in a socket: the cable is fitted with a two-pin plug
  • a socket into which an electric plug can be fitted: the vacuum cleaner cord snaked away to a hidden plug
  • short for spark plug.
  • 3 informal a piece of publicity promoting a product, event, or establishment:he threw in a plug, boasting that the restaurant offered many entrées for under £5
  • 4a piece of tobacco cut from a larger cake for chewing: they sold chewing tobacco in bars and plugs
  • [mass noun] (also plug tobacco) tobacco in large cakes designed to be cut for chewing: he was always chewing plug and cracking jokes
  • 5 Fishing a lure with one or more hooks attached.
  • 7North American informal a tired or old horse.

verb (plugs, plugging, plugged)

[with object]
  • 1block or fill in (a hole or cavity):trucks arrived loaded with gravel to plug the hole and clear the road
  • fill:the new sanctions are meant to plug the gaps in the trade embargo
  • insert (something) into an opening so as to fill it:the baby plugged his thumb into his mouth
  • 2 informal mention (a product, event, or establishment) publicly in order to promote it:during the show he plugged his new record
  • 3North American informal shoot or hit (someone or something): he got plugged in the head while he was taking a nap
  • 4 [no object, with adverbial] informal proceed steadily and laboriously with a journey or task:during the years of poverty, he plugged away at his writing

Phrases

plug the gap (or gaps)

provide something that is lacking in a particular situation:the government is to borrow £29 billion to plug the gap in public spending

Phrasal Verbs

plug something in

connect an electrical appliance to the mains by inserting a plug in a socket: she plugged in the electric kettle and spooned coffee into the percolator

plug into

(of an electrical appliance) be connected to another appliance by a lead inserted in a socket: you can buy a camera which will plug into your video cassette recorder
gain or have access to a system of computerized information:we plug into the research facilities available at the institute
become knowledgeable about and involved with:the workshops are a great way to plug into radical ideas and radical groups

Derivatives

plugger

noun

Origin:

early 17th century: from Middle Dutch and Middle Low German plugge, of unknown ultimate origin

plug in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of plug in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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