Idioms for plug
- to discontinue or terminate: The government has threatened to pull the plug on further subsidies.
- to disconnect life-sustaining equipment from (a moribund patient).
Origin of plug
OTHER WORDS FROM plug
plug·ga·ble, adjective plug·ging·ly, adverb plug·less, adjective plug·like, adjectiveWords nearby plug
Definition for plug (2 of 2)
noun
Origin of plug and feathers
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 …
I want those new Yeezy somebody direct me to the plug 😩
— J/•\Y (@jayyborders) December 11, 2018
Pizza Zoo…..Saturday……get yo tickets fools! I am not the plug!
— Jessi (@Jessi_Dean) July 24, 2018
… to drugs, whether scored from small-time dealers or big-time suppliers.
i have 800mg ibuprofen so if anyone needs a new plug hmu
— horrible little goose (@edamamiiiii) August 9, 2015
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.”
FROM MODEST SHOOT TO FORWARD PLANT. A shameless plug for my book on women in botanical culture from herb women to botanical poets; many courted controversy by wantonly focussing on the sexual parts of the flower the stamens and pistils #FolkloreThursday image 1 Corpse Lily pic.twitter.com/tllq5naLGG
— Coffin Boffin (@DrSamGeorge1) January 24, 2019
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.