plug

Any mass filling a hole or closing an orifice.

- Dittrich plugs minute, dirty-grayish, ill-smelling masses of bacteria and fatty acid crystals in the sputum in pulmonary gangrene and fetid bronchitis. SYN: Traube plugs.

- epithelial p. a mass of epithelial cells temporarily occluding an embryonic opening; the term is most commonly used with reference to the external nares.

- laminated epithelial p. SYN: keratosis obturans.

- meconium p. a p. of thick, inspissated meconium that may cause intestinal obstruction.

- mucous p. a mass of mucus and cells filling the cervical canal between periods or during pregnancy; a mass of mucous occluding a main or lobar bronchus.

- Traube plugs SYN: Dittrich plugs.

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plug 'pləg n a piece of material (as wood or alloy) used or serving to fill a hole: as

a) the piece in a cock that can be turned to regulate the flow of liquid or gas

b) an obstructing mass of material in a bodily vessel or opening (as of the cervix or a skin lesion)

c) a filling for a hollow tooth

plug vt, plugged; plug·ging

1) to stop, make tight, or secure (as an opening) by or as if by insertion of a plug: close an opening in

2) to fill a cavity in (a tooth)

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(plug) a lumpy mass that closes or obstructs an opening.