scrub

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Adjective 1.2.2 Noun 1.2.2.1 Derived terms 1.2.2.2 Translations 1.2.2.3 Derived terms 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Verb 1.3.1.1 Translations 1.3.2 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

\Scrub\,

• Rhymes: -ʌb

[edit] Etymology 1

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

[edit] Adjective

scrub (comparative more scrub, superlative most scrub)

1. Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby.

   "How solitary, how scrub, does this town look!" -Walpole.

   "No little scrub joint shall come on my board." -Swift.

[edit] Noun

scrub (plural scrubs)

1. One who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow.

   We should go there in as proper a manner possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us.

2. One who is a freak or unable to complete easy tasks.

   You are such a scrub! Instead of washing the dishes you put the used food on your face!

3. A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant; as, oak scrub, palmetto scrub, etc.
4. (US, stock breeding) One of the common livestock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed, esp. when inferior in size, etc. Often used to refer to male animals unsuited for breeding.
5. Vegetation of inferior quality, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush.
6. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (gaming) One who is no longer new to a game but still exhibits novice tendencies.

   "What a scrub."

7. One not on the first team of players, a substitute.

[edit] Derived terms

• scrub game a game, as of ball, by unpracticed players.
• scrub race a race between scrubs, or between untrained animals or contestants.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Derived terms

• scrub bird (Zool.), an Australian passerine bird of the family {Atrichornithid[ae]}, as {Atrichia clamosa}; -- called also {brush bird}.
• scrub oak (Bot.), the popular name of several dwarfishspecies of oak. The scrub oak of New England and the Middle States is {Quercus ilicifolia}, a scraggy shrub; that of the Southern States is a small tree ({Q. Catesb[ae]i}); that of the Rocky Mountain region is {Q. undulata}, var. Gambelii.
• scrub robin (Zo["o]l.), an Australian singing bird of the genus {Drymodes}.

[edit] Etymology 2

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

[edit] Verb

to scrub (third-person singular simple present scrubs, present participle scrubbing, simple past and past participle scrubbed)

1. (transitive) To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening; as, to scrub a floor, a doorplate.
2. (intransitive) To rub anything hard, especially with a wet brush; to scour;
3. (intransitive, figuratively) To be diligent and penurious; as, to scrub hard for a living.
4. (transitive) To call off a scheduled event; to cancel.

   Engineers had to scrub the satellite launch due to bad weather.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

scrub (plural scrubs)

1. An instance of scrubbing.
2. A cancellation.
3. A worn-out brush.
4. One who scrubs.
5. (medicine, plural) Clothing worn while performing surgery.