scrub

Wikipedia

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: skrŭb, IPA: /skɹʌb/, SAMPA: /skr\Vb/
• Rhymes: -ʌb

Etymology 1

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

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.

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, especially 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.

Derived terms

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

Translations

one who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow

something small and mean

a thicket or jungle

Finnish: pensaikko (fi), pusikko (fi), puska (fi), tiheikkö (fi)

one of the common livestock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed

vegetation of inferior quality

Finnish: puska (fi), pöheikkö (fi)

one who is no longer new to a game but still exhibits novice tendencies

Derived terms

• scrub bird
• scrub oak
• scrub robin

Etymology 2

From Middle English scrobben (“groom a horse with a currycomb”); From Middle Dutch schrobben (“clean by scrubbing”)

Verb

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.

5. (databases, transitive) To eliminate or to 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.

Translations

to rub hard

Dutch: schrobben (nl) Finnish: jynssätä, jyystää, kuurata French: crosser (fr) Hungarian: sikál (hu)

Italian: sfregare (it), strofinare (it) Norwegian: skrubbe (no) Portuguese: esfregar (pt) Spanish: fregar (es), tallar (es) (Mexico)

to rub anything hard

Finnish: jynssätä (fi)

Hungarian: sikál (hu)

to be diligent and penurious

Finnish: puurtaa (fi)

to call off a scheduled event; to cancel

Finnish: perua (fi), peruuttaa (fi) French: annuler (fr)

Italian: disdire (it), annullare (it) Polish: odwołać (pl)

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.

Translations

instance of scrubbing

Finnish: jynssäys (fi)

cancellation — see cancellation

worn-out brush

one who scrubs

Finnish: jynssääjä (fi)

clothing worn in surgery

Finnish: kirurgin asu (fi)

Anagrams

• curbs