Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗Any of many gastropod mollusks, having no (or only a rudimentary) shell. · A slow, lazy person; a sluggard. · A bullet or other projectile fired from a firearm; in modern usage, generally refers to a shotgun slug. · A solid block or piece of roughly shaped metal.
To drink quickly; to gulp; to down. · To take part in casual carpooling; to form ad hoc, informal carpools for commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking. · To become reduced in diameter, or changed in shape, by passing from a larger to a smaller part of the bore of the barrel. · To move slowly or sluggishly; to lie idle.
Originally referred to a slow, lazy person, from Middle English slugge (“lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness”), probably of either Old English or Old Norse origin; perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sliǵ-ōn, from *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”) or otherwise from the root of Old Norse slókr (“lazy person, oaf”), whence Icelandic slókur (“laziness”). Compare Norn slug (“lazy, slothful, sluggish”), dialectal Norwegian slugg (“a large, heavy body”), sluggje (“heavy, slow person”), Danish slog (“rascal, rogue”). Compare also Dutch slak (“snail, slug”). Doublet of slotch. The sense of a hitchhiking commuter is from the sense of a counterfeit bus token. Bus operators considered sluggers to be cheating as if they were using counterfeit tokens.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionsluggeenm · lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness
- Cognate mentionslókrnon · lazy person, oaf
- Cognate mentionslókuris · laziness
- Cognate mentionslugnrn · lazy, slothful, sluggish
- Cognate mentionsluggno · a large, heavy body
- Cognate mentionslogda · rascal, rogue
- Cognate mentionslaknl · snail, slug
- Doublet mentionslotchen
This page abbreviates 18 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "vern",
"args": {
"1": "Spanish slug"
},
"expansion": "Spanish slug"
},
{
"name": "taxlink",
"args": {
"1": "Arion vulgaris",
"2": "species"
},
"expansion": "Arion vulgaris"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "slugge",
"t": "lazy person\", also \"sloth, slothfulness"
},
"expansion": "Middle English slugge (“lazy person\", also \"sloth, slothfulness”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Old English"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "",
"4": "*sliǵ-ōn"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *sliǵ-ōn"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "non",
"2": "slókr",
"t": "lazy person, oaf"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse slókr (“lazy person, oaf”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "is",
"2": "slókur",
"t": "laziness"
},
"expansion": "Icelandic slókur (“laziness”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nrn",
"2": "slug",
"t": "lazy, slothful, sluggish"
},
"expansion": "Norn slug (“lazy, slothful, sluggish”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "no",
"2": "slugg",
"t": "a large, heavy body"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian slugg (“a large, heavy body”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "slog",
"t": "rascal, rogue"
},
"expansion": "Danish slog (“rascal, rogue”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "slak",
"t": "snail, slug"
},
"expansion": "Dutch slak (“snail, slug”)"
},
{
"name": "doublet",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "slotch"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of slotch"
}
],
"links": [
[
"slugge",
"slugge#Middle_English"
],
[
"*sley-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/sley-"
],
[
"slókr",
"slókr#Old_Norse"
],
[
"slókur",
"slókur#Icelandic"
],
[
"slug",
"slug#Norn"
],
[
"slugg",
"slugg#Norwegian"
],
[
"sluggje",
"sluggje#Norwegian"
],
[
"slog",
"slog#Danish"
],
[
"slak",
"slak#Dutch"
],
[
"slotch",
"slotch#English"
],
[
"slugger",
"slugger"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"Any of many gastropod mollusks, having no (or only a rudimentary) shell.",
"A slow, lazy person; a sluggard.",
"A bullet or other projectile fired from a firearm; in modern usage, generally refers to a shotgun slug.",
"A solid block or piece of roughly shaped metal."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"recordId": "a8a5c0aa8e897c8e0694047b36de8c63cd125aa5daf0421e5b9fb790c6955f36",
"rawRecordSha256": "640e06beea8506f61741c844a2a0903e2c707bc36847e1b3bf0b45f6ba5ddfd1",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 25048
},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To drink quickly; to gulp; to down.",
"To take part in casual carpooling; to form ad hoc, informal carpools for commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking.",
"To become reduced in diameter, or changed in shape, by passing from a larger to a smaller part of the bore of the barrel.",
"To move slowly or sluggishly; to lie idle."
],
"tags": [
"intransitive",
"obsolete"
],
"recordId": "e070c5bf1ec44f1f28764f9559779a1e308ab6d094e3f945e4cfca84c8bc61e7",
"rawRecordSha256": "6385f296f249d17a19c2057c274e657b09011fd62238f3b847a267d3076a901a",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 25049
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 18,
"glosses": 0
}
}