plugs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of plug.

   The hardware store stocks plugs for every size of socket.

   Workers sealed the drainage holes with rubber plugs.

   Note

   The spelling is shared with the verb form, so a box of plugs and she plugs the leak look alike on the page. As a noun, the plural covers electrical connectors, sockets, and stoppers that fill a hole. In American use it also covers flat cakes of pressed tobacco. American slang adds tall silk hats and worthless horses, so context decides which plugs a sentence means.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of plug.

   The technician plugs each cable into its labeled port.

   Every interview, she plugs her upcoming album shamelessly.

   Note

   Nearly every use takes a direct object. She plugs the gap, and he plugs his book on every show. The exception is the informal intransitive sense of persisting, where nothing gets plugged at all. Several slang uses share this form: shooting someone, sex, and taking a drug rectally. In casual speech, the object usually tells a listener which meaning is intended, so choose it with care.

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