scrub
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scrub¹
- /skɹʌb/
- /skɹʊb/ Ireland, Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌb
Where it comes from
Late Middle English shrobbe in the sense of "stunted tree," a variant of shrub, from Old English scrybb. Doublet of shrub.
adjective more scrub · most scrub
- Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby. How solitary, how scrub, does this town look!
noun scrubs
- A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant. oak scrub
- Vegetation judged to be of inferior quality or of little use to humans, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush.
- One of the common livestock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed, especially when inferior in size, etc.; particularly a male animal poorly suited for breeding.
- One who labors hard and lives meanly. A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind.
- One who is incompetent or unable to complete easy tasks. Wow, she really scored 0? What a scrub!
- One not on the first team of players; a substitute.
- A player who whines when outmatched by other players, sometimes by blaming the game mechanics or even accusing the other players of cheating.
scrub²
- /skɹʌb/
- /skɹʊb/ Ireland, Northern England
Rhymes with -ʌb
Where it comes from
From Middle English scrobben (“groom a horse with a currycomb”); from Middle Dutch schrobben (“clean by scrubbing”).
verb scrubs · scrubbing · scrubbed
- To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening. to scrub a floor with a cleanser
- To rub anything vigorously, especially with a wet brush; to scour. She has been scrubbing for an hour, but the stain won't come out.
- Synonym of scrub in (“To thoroughly wash one's hands and forearms in preparation for performing a surgery”). The surgeon readied himself, dressing, scrubbing and checking his notes for the next patient.
- To be diligent and penurious. I've had to scrub hard for a living
- To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. I will scrub the inefficiencies out of the system.
- To call off (a scheduled event); to cancel (something). Engineers had to scrub the satellite launch due to bad weather.
- To check data in invoices and other records in order to find, fix, document or otherwise handle anomalies, errors or omissions. Scrub the billing files.
- To study in great detail a contract or other agreement in order to identify and remove risks, liability or other issues.
- To eliminate or correct (data) from a set of records to bring it inline with other similar datasets. The street segment data from the National Post Office will need to be scrubbed before it can be integrated into our system.
- To remove unflattering or unhelpful information from (something). She's scrubbing her social media accounts before the background check begins.
- To remove impurities from a gas or vapor. The gas passed through towers T1 and T2 in series and was scrubbed counter-currently with dilute H2SO4 to recover ammonia.
- To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. scrub the ground (dance move)
- To play a video game without skills; to button mash.
- To move a recording tape back and forth with a scrubbing motion to produce a scratching sound, or to do so by a similar use of a control on an editing system.
-
To maneuver the play position on a media editing system by using a scroll bar or touch-based interface.
Similar: seek
- To move the arms alongside a horse's head in sync with its stride, as to urge it forward.
- To shudder when taking tight turns or hitting bumps due to wheel misalignment, cold weather or problems with the suspension. The greater the height of the pavement edge, the more likely the tire is to scrub along the edge. The smaller the tread and sidewall heights of the tire, the more likely the tire is to scrub.
-
Synonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them.”)
Similar: scrub in
- To ride so as to lean horizontally when ascending a slope in order to jump the dirtbike.
noun scrubs
- An instance of scrubbing.
- A cancellation. Unacceptable winds aloft caused four scrubs and one hold; adverse weather caused a scrub; […]
- A worn-out brush. A scrub [broom worn out] Scopa detrita.
- One who scrubs.
- That which scrubs.
- An exfoliant for the body.
- Attributive form of scrubs (“clothing worn while performing surgery”).
- Attributive form of scrubs (“any medical uniform consisting of a short-sleeved shirt and pants (trousers)”).
- Informal attire or dress code; morning dress. The third, which was as homely as its name, and which she reserved for scouring the country and such like rough usage in quite private rural life, was her "Scrub."
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: cur, underbred, scrub up, scour, unimproved, scouring, mixed, mongrel, crossbred, chaparral, bush, squeezing, erase, delete, clean-up, cleaning
Translations
Every language
noun something small and mean
| Русский | замо́рыш zamóryš |
|---|
noun vegetation of inferior quality
| Español | breña, maleza |
|---|---|
| Português | mato, brenha |
| Français | broussaille |
| Deutsch | Gestrüpp |
| Русский | скраб skrab, куста́рник kustárnik |
noun one who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow
| Русский | ничто́жество ničtóžestvo |
|---|
Talk about this word "scrub." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/scrub. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. scrub. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/scrub "scrub." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/scrub.
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@misc{scrub_2026,
title = {scrub},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/scrub},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
