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 ]

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 ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of terrestrial pulmonate mollusks belonging to Limax and several related genera, in which the shell is either small and concealed in the mantle, or altogether wanting. They are closely allied to the land snails. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) Any smooth, soft larva of a sawfly or moth which creeps like a mollusk; as, the pear slug; rose slug. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A ship that sails slowly. [ Obs. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

His rendezvous for his fleet, and for all slugs to come to, should be between Calais and Dover. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. [ Perhaps a different word. ] An irregularly shaped piece of metal, used as a missile for a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Print.) A thick strip of metal less than type high, and as long as the width of a column or a page, -- used in spacing out pages and to separate display lines, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sea slug. (Zool.) (a) Any nudibranch mollusk. (b) A holothurian. --
Slug caterpillar. Same as Slugworm. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To move slowly; to lie idle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To slug in sloth and sensual delight. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make sluggish. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who indulges in lying abed; a sluggard. [ R. ] “Fie, you slugabed!” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Slug + -ard. ] A person habitually lazy, idle, and inactive; a drone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Prov. vi. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Sluggish; lazy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make lazy. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. sloggardye. ] The state of being a sluggard; sluggishness; sloth. Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

Idleness is rotten sluggardy. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]