plug-ugly


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plug-ug·ly

(plŭg′ŭg′lē)
n. pl. plug-ug·lies Slang
A gangster or ruffian.
[From the Plug Uglies, a gang active in several East Coast cities in the 1850s.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

plug-ugly

adj
informal extremely ugly
n, pl -lies
slang US a city tough; ruffian
[C19: origin obscure; originally applied to ruffians in New York who attempted to exert political pressure]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun 1. [画像:plug-ugly - someone who bullies weaker people]plug-ugly - someone who bullies weaker people
bully, hooligan, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, yob, yobbo, yobo, tough - a cruel and brutal fellow
Ted, Teddy boy - a tough youth of 1950's and 1960's wearing Edwardian style clothes
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

plug-ugly

[ˌplʌgˈʌglɪ] ADJ → feísimo, horrendo
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
References in classic literature ?
And she goes off with that plug-ugly who looks as if he had been hit in the face with a coin-die.
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"A prizefighter, a hoodlum, a plug-ugly," Sarah sneered, after she had exhausted herself of all calamitous forecasts of her own future and the future of her children in the absence of Saxon's weekly four dollars and a half.
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In the morning the strabismic plug-ugly with the red hair brought him food and drink, while in the evening the non-grunter did the honours.
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Last week I described raccoon dogs as "pug ugly." The correct term, dating from American gang culture of the 1850s, is "plug-ugly." Having said that, pugs are pretty ugly, too.
YOU know how it is. [...]
I've always said poker players are so Plug-ugly that you suspect they've pulled more royal flushes than women, but then along comes Coren (right).
VICTORIA'S PAIR OF ACES HAS ME IN A ROYAL FLUSH; RESULT WITH with sports betting's top tipster DEREK McGOVERN
Hence the photographs of unapproachably translucent actresses, of dietetically irreproachable models, of society women said to be beautiful on the covers of popular magazines, though what does it matter, from the vantage point of totalitarian rationalism that is the guiding spirit of the epoch, whether these women are very beautiful, or just beautiful enough, or plug-ugly? Like the chocolate bears made of communist soybeans, they are there to represent human caprice, and by implication the epoch's covenant with mankind for tolerating it.
All in a stew
The reverse of my Rex experience is reflected in another dusty old chestnut, "Handsome is as handsome does." Over the years, I've hunted behind homely, even plug-ugly dogs, that on the surface seemed to be without redeeming qualities.
Sense of style: it's hard to discern and intensely personal
From the plug-ugly Allegro to the popular Viva, you couldn't drive for more than a few miles without crossing their paths in the 70s and 80s.
70s workhorses are nearing the end of the road
From the plug-ugly Austin Allegro to the popular Vauxhall Viva, you couldn't drive for more than a few miles without crossing their paths.
Last of the red hot Vivas
The American military long since realised they could invade nothing more heavily defended than a Beach Boys revival convert in a Jeep and so introduced the plug-ugly Hummer and with it the new battlefield tactic of scaring the enemy to death.
Land Cruiser explores more than urban jungle; full chat

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