Dictionary.com
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?

Idioms about plug

    pull the plug on, Informal.
    1. to discontinue or terminate: The government has threatened to pull the plug on further subsidies.
    2. to disconnect life-sustaining equipment from (a moribund patient).

Origin of plug

1620–30; <Dutch; cognate with German Pflock

OTHER WORDS FROM plug

plug·ga·ble, adjectiveplug·ging·ly, adverbplugless, adjectivepluglike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

ABOUT THIS WORD

What else does plug mean?

Content warning: this article references illegal and illicit drugs.

A plug (or the plug) is a person who has the ability to get or supply hard-to-find items, especially drugs.

Where does plug come from?

The word plug made its way into the English language, likely from Dutch, as far back as the 1620s. It was a word used by sailors, as plugs can be quite useful on a boat in leaky situations.

In the 1880s, plug gained its electrical sense, referring to an outlet and electrical connection instead of just a stopper. In the 1930s, we see the word connection emerge as slang for an illegal drug supplier, the person connecting the drugs themselves to the sellers and users. This notion of connection appears to influence the slang sense of plug for a drug seller in the early 2000s.

In 2014, 50 Cent’s G Unit released “The Plug,” which boasts about being a drug hookup, or the plug.

Well, if you need that, then get at me

I’m the plug

Dope, coke, crack, man get at me

I’m the plug”

While the slang plug initially and especially refers to linking people together for drug-related transactions, plug spread by the 2010s for a source of any rare or desirable item.

How is plug used in real life?

Outside of everyday uses of plugs such as electrical plugs and plugging holes, plug is youth slang for a supplier of sought-after products, ranging from designer shoes and event tickets …

… to drugs, whether scored from small-time dealers or big-time suppliers.

Of course, we’d be remiss not to point out that plug is also a popular informal term meaning “to publicize something or someone insistently.”

More examples of plug:

“Skepta’s Clothing Brand Mains is Finally Available…Who’s Got the Plug?”
The Drop Date (headline), June 2017

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.

How to use plug in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for plug

plug
/ (plʌɡ) /

noun
verb plugs, plugging or plugged

Derived forms of plug

plugger, noun

Word Origin for plug

C17: from Middle Dutch plugge; related to Middle Low German plugge, German Pflock
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with plug

plug

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
FEEDBACK