plug-ugly
Britishadjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of plug-ugly
C19: origin obscure; originally applied to ruffians in New York who attempted to exert political pressure
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But perhaps more than any American dramatist working today, Mr. Bradshaw walks — no, make that tramples — the lines that divide the good, the bad and the plug-ugly, both in art and in life.
From New York Times • Nov. 15, 2011
In The Champ, Beery was a broken-down plug-ugly who achieved moral and physical regeneration through his desire to justify the adoration of little Jackie Cooper.
From Time Magazine Archive
The door, bearing no name, was guarded by a plug-ugly who kept its key locked inside a little green cabinet.
From Time Magazine Archive
When a plug-ugly protege of Promoter Dempsey dropped a handkerchief, 54 entrants from 15 Manhattan restaurants set off at a run from 59th street down Eighth Avenue to 50th street.
From Time Magazine Archive
So the next time "Beak-horn," as I called my plug-ugly friend, started to tease the old man, I asked him to stop ... that we had tormented Pfeiler long enough.
From Tramping on Life An Autobiographical Narrative by Kemp, Harry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
