Grub

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɹʌb/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒb

Origin

From hypothetical Old English root *grubbian, from Proto-Germanic *grubb- (compare Old High German grubilōn ("to dig, search"), German grübeln ("to meditate, ponder")), from Proto-Germanic *grub- ("to dig"). The noun sense of "larva" (c.1400) may derive from the notion of "digging insect" or from the possibly unrelated Middle English grub ("dwarfish fellow"). The slang sense of "food" is first recorded 1659, has been linked with birds eating grubs or with bub ("drink")."

Full definition of grub

Noun

1. (countable) An immature stage in the life cycle of an insect; a larva.
2. (uncountable, slang) Food.
3. (obsolete) A short, thick man; a dwarf.

Synonyms

• immature insect: larva
• slang: food: nosh, tucker

Derived terms

• grubby
• witchetty grub

Related terms

• caterpillar
• maggot
• worm

Verb

1. To scavenge or in some way scrounge, typically for food.
2. To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; often followed by up.to grub up trees, rushes, or sedge
• HareThey do not attempt to grub up the root of sin.
• 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4Yet there was no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. But the earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye, was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands, and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myself and bruise my fingers.
3. (slang) To supply with food.

Anagrams

• burg