Meaning of plug-ugly | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A violent thug; a goon.
   slang
2. An ugly person.
   slang
3. A member of an American nativist street gang that operated in the west side of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1854 to 1865.
   US, historical

Examples

“The article was a highly-coloured and exaggerated account of the adventure of Roy Perkins, 'our experienced war correspondent' and it contained such purple passages as 'this hirsute bully of Enmore Gardens,' 'a compound guarded by barbed wire, plug-uglies, and bloodhounds,' and finally, 'I was dragged from the edge of the Anglo-Australian tunnel by two ruffians[.]'”

“Thus passed the last of the North Wales Narrow Gauge locomotives, and one of the few American-built locomotives to survive in Great Britain; the sadly cropped though once elegant Russell, and the unembellished yet useful Yankee plug-ugly.”

CEFR level