slug out

To slug out meant to compose and print text using metal type slugs cast by a linotype machine, rather than setting individual pieces of foundry type by hand. A slug is a single line of type, cast as one solid metal bar, typically 6 to 12 points tall and up to 30 ems wide. The linotype operator would tap keys on the keyboard, each keystroke releasing a matrix (a mold for one letter), which fell into a composing stick; when the operator hit the spacebar to justify the line, all matrices moved to the casting mechanism where molten metal filled them, then the cooled slug ejected into the galley. To slug out a newspaper page or job meant running the copy through the linotype machines until the entire text was cast as slugs, ready for locking into a chase and printing.

The term was most common in newspaper shops from the 1890s through the 1960s, where speed was essential. A trained linotype operator could slug out roughly 5,000 to 7,000 ems per hour, far faster than hand composition. The phrase appeared alongside similar coinages like "running slugs" or "casting out," all referring to the same process of converting manuscript into cast metal type. Newspapers would slug out multiple editions daily, with slugs being melted down and recyled after printing, since the metal (an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony) had value.

Decline and displacement

The linotype machine itself became obsolete in the 1970s and 1980s as phototypesetting and computer-driven composition took over. Digital typesetting removed the need for metal entirely. Printers no longer slugged out copy because there were no more slugs to cast. The term survived in the trade vocabulary of older compositors and press hands, but by the 1990s it was purely archival, used only when describing the methods of historical print shops or teaching the history of the craft.

Understanding the term matters for anyone studying early 20th century newspapers, printing history, or the economics of pre-digital publishing. A slug also carried meaning: the word itself came from the heaviness of the cast-metal bar, analogous to a bullet or slug in firearms. Some sources note that the speed and reliability of slug casting made linotype indispensable to daily journalism, and the verb "to slug out" embodied the rhythmic, high-volume production that newspaper composing rooms demanded.