plug

Meaning

Noun

1. A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one.
2. (broadly) A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one.
3. Any piece of wood, metal, or other substance used to stop or fill a hole.
4. (US) A flat oblong cake of pressed tobacco.
5. (US, slang) A high, tapering silk hat.
6. (US, slang) A worthless horse.
7. (dated) Any worn-out or useless article.
8. (dated, slang) A book that fails to sell.
9. 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.
11. A body of once molten rock that hardened in a volcanic vent. Usually round or oval in shape.
12. A type of lure consisting of a rigid, buoyant or semi-buoyant body and one or more hooks.
13. A small seedling grown in a tray from expanded polystyrene or polythene filled usually with a peat or compost substrate.
14. A growth of protoplasm that closes the pore openings in the cells of certain algae.
15. A short cylindrical piece of jewellery commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings, especially in the ear.
16. (slang) A drug dealer.
17. A branch from a water-pipe to supply a hose.
18. A standard, modular fuselage component that can be added or removed.
19. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) Ellipsis of fireplug (“fire hydrant”).

Verb

1. (transitive) To stop with a plug; to make tight by stopping a hole.
2. (transitive) To promote (something, especially a product or service); to mention (something) as if promoting or advertising it.
3. (informal, intransitive) To persist or continue with something.
4. (slang, transitive) To shoot (someone) with a bullet.
5. (slang, transitive) To have sex with; to penetrate sexually.
6. (slang, transitive) To ingest a drug rectally.

Synonyms

stopper

cork

stop up

stop

🛑

block

bung

cap

stopple

clog

stuff

seal

🦭

tap

obstruct

nag

spark plug

fill

spigot

outlet

punch

👊

connector

hack

socket

close up

close

choke

caulk

plugging

electric outlet

jade

sparking plug

tampon

tamp

wad

congest

male connector

secure

shoot

choke up

chew

chaw

push

quid

plug away

obstruction

occlude

mount

advertisement

lid

power point

cud

Translations

bouchon

Stecker

tapón

spina

tappo

Stöpsel

enchufe

boucher

fiche

stekker

stop

tap

tampar

arrolhar

tapar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/plʌɡ/

Etymology

Cognate with Middle Low German: -

Cognate with Norwegian: plug

Cognate with German: Pflock

Cognate with Lithuanian: plúkti

In summary

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. Perhaps ultimately from the same source as Dutch plag (“cut-out sod”), itself considered to be from a substrate.
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”).