slug

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a slimy shell-less mollusk; also a hard blow or a bullet

   A slug had eaten its way across the lettuce overnight.

Simplified etymology

Slug first denoted a slow-moving, lazy person in medieval English and later any slow-moving animal or vehicle; it has named a slimy, snail-like creature since the early 18th century. A slug of whisky or lead is probably the same word, but the verb meaning to hit is separate and of unknown origin. Sluggard and sluggish are probably related to a rare verb slug, “to be lazy or slow,” which may be Scandinavian in origin.

From Middle English slugge ('a lazy person'), probably of Scandinavian origin, akin to Norwegian dialect slugg ('a heavy body'); the mollusc and 'lump of metal' senses derive from this notion of a sluggish, heavy mass.

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