plug

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The object with metal pins at the end of an electrical wire that you put into a socket.

   I pushed the plug back into the socket and the lamp lit up.

2. 2
   noun

   A round object used to block a hole, especially in a sink or bath.

   Pull the plug out of the tub so it can drain.

3. 3
   verb

   To block or fill a hole.

   They plugged the gap in the wall with cement.

4. 4
   verb

   To connect a piece of equipment to an electricity supply or another device.

   Remember to plug in the charger overnight.

From Dutch plug, from Middle Dutch plugge (“peg, plug”), from Old Dutch *pluggi, from Proto-West Germanic *plugi. Further origin unknown. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *plugjaz, but the word seems originally restricted to northern continental West Germanic. Perhaps ultimately from the same source as Dutch plag (“cut-out sod”), itself considered to be from a substrate. Compare German Low German Plüg, Norwegian plug (“peg, wedge”, probably borrowed from Middle Low German), German Pflock (“peg”, restricted to Central German and phonetically divergent). Possibly akin to Lithuanian plúkti (“to strik…

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