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drub

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drub¹

  • /dɹʌb/
  • /dɹʊb/ Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌb

Where it comes from

From Middle English *drob, drof, from Old English *drōb, drōf (“turbid; dreggy; dirty”), from Proto-West Germanic *drōbī, from Proto-Germanic *drōbuz (“turbid”).

noun drubs

  1. Northern England, dialectal, uncountable, usually Carbonaceous shale; small coal; slate, dross, or rubbish in coal.

drub²

  • /dɹʌb/
  • /dɹʊb/ Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌb

Where it comes from

1625, of uncertain origin:

* Perhaps from Arabic ضَرَبَ (ḍaraba, “to beat, hit”),

* or perhaps originally from a dialectal word (Kent) drab, variant of drop, dryp, drib (“to beat”), from Middle English drepen (preterit drop, drap, drape (“struck, killed”)) from Old English drepan (“to strike”), from Proto-West Germanic *drepan, from Proto-Germanic *drepaną (“to beat, bump, strike, slay”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb⁽ʰ⁾- (“to strike, crush, kill”).

* Linguist Guus Kroonen suggests that it reflects the Proto-Germanic verb *drubbōną, iterative to *drabaną (“to hit, hew”), as found in Norwegian drubbe, drubba (“to hit hard, strike with force, kill”).

Compare also Old Frisian drop (“a blow, beat”), Old High German treffan (“to hit, strike”), Old Norse drepa (“to strike, slay, kill”), Swedish drabba (“to hit, strike”). Compare also dub. More at drape.

verb drubs · drubbing · drubbed

  1. transitive To beat (someone or something) with a stick.
  2. transitive To defeat someone soundly; to annihilate or crush.
  3. transitive To forcefully teach something.
  4. transitive To criticize harshly; to excoriate.

Translations

Every language

verb to beat with a stick

Françaisbâtonner, fustiger
Deutschprügeln
Italianobastonare, fustigare
Русскийколоти́ть kolotítʹ
العربيةضَرَبَ ḍaraba

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MLA

"drub." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/drub. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

drub. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/drub

Chicago

"drub." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/drub.

BibTeX
@misc{drub_2026,
  title = {drub},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/drub},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}