plug-ugly
Britishadjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of plug-ugly
C19: origin obscure; originally applied to ruffians in New York who attempted to exert political pressure
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But perhaps more than any American dramatist working today, Mr. Bradshaw walks — no, make that tramples — the lines that divide the good, the bad and the plug-ugly, both in art and in life.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2011
The door, bearing no name, was guarded by a plug-ugly who kept its key locked inside a little green cabinet.
From Time Magazine Archive
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the flashy plug-ugly who became one of the war's great soldiers, is Inspector General of Western Defenses.
From Time Magazine Archive
The nameless door was guarded by a plug-ugly who kept its key locked in a little green cabinet.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is an unmitigated ruffian, the plug-ugly of the woods.
From Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness by Henry Van Dyke
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
