Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - plug

~1 n 1 »ELECTRICITY« a) a thing used for connecting a piece of electrical equipment to the main supply of electricity  (a two-pin plug) b) BrE informal a piece of plastic, usually on a wall, where electrical equipment is connected to the main electricity supply; socket (1)  (Make sure you turn the television off at the plug.) c) an object used for connecting a wire from one piece of electrical equipment such as a computer to another 2 »BATH« a round flat piece of rubber or plastic used for stopping the water flowing out of a bath or sink2 3 »ADVERTISEMENT« informal an attempt to persuade people to buy a book, see a film etc, by talking about it publicly, especially on television or radio  (give sth a plug)  (She appeared on all the talk shows to give her new book a plug.) 4 »IN AN ENGINE« informal the part of a petrol engine that makes a spark and explodes the petrol mixture; spark plug  (Change the plugs every 10,000 miles.) 5 pull the plug (on sth) to prevent a plan or business from being able to continue, especially by deciding not to give it any more money  (We were doing fine until the bank pulled the plug on us.) 6 »PIECE« a piece of something pressed tightly together  (a cotton wool plug | a plug of tobacco) 7 »FOR HOLDING SCREWS« a small plastic tube put in a hole to hold a screw tightly ~2 v 1 also plug up to fill or block a small hole  (I used cement to plug the holes in the plaster.) 2 to try to persuade people to buy a book, see a film etc by talking about it on television or radio  (Arnold was only on the show to plug his new movie.) 3 plug the gap/gaps to provide more of something that is needed  (With so few trained doctors, paramedics were brought in to plug the gap.) 4 AmE old-fashioned to shoot someone plug away phr v to keep working hard at something + a  (I'm sure if you keep plugging away at it, your English will improve.) plug sth in phr v to connect a piece of electrical equipment to the main supply of electricity, or to another piece of electrical equipment  (I don't think the antenna's plugged in right.) plug into sth phr v 1 to connect one piece of electrical equipment to another  (plug sth into sth)  (The TV was plugged into the stereo system.) 2 to connect your computer to a big computer system