sub

See also sub-

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: sŭb, IPA: /sʌb/, X-SAMPA: /sVb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌb

Etymology 1

Shortened form of any of various words beginning sub-, such as submarine, subroutine, substitute, subscription.

The sandwich is so called because the bun's cylindrical shape resembles the shape of a submarine.

Noun

sub (plural subs)

1. A submarine.
2. A submarine sandwich—a sandwich made on a long bun.

   We can get subs at that deli.

3. (US, informal) A substitute.

   With the score 4 to 1, they brought in subs.

   She worked as a sub until she got her teaching certificate.

4. (UK, informal) A substitute in a football (soccer) game: someone who comes on in place of another player part way through the game.
   • 1930, Boy's Live, Philip Scruggs, There Can Be Victory, page 20

     At any other school you would be playing varsity, and Wallace has you pigeon-holed on the subs." "Maybe he has his reasons," Jim replied. "And he hasn't pigeon-holed me on the subs yet — not this season.

5. (UK, informal, often in plural) Short for subscription: a payment made for membership of a club, etc.
6. (informal) A submissive in BDSM practices.
   • 2004, Paul Baker, Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang‎

     ...roleplay where a sub or bottom takes care of a top's bodily and hygiene needs...

   • 2007, Laurell K Hamilton, The Harlequin

     "It means that I'm both a sub and a dom." "Submissive and dominant," I said. He nodded.

   • 2008, Lannie Rose, How to Change Your Sex

     Typically a dom and a sub have a more or less standard routine that they like to go through all the time.

7. (Internet, informal) Short for subtitle.
8. (computing, programming) A subroutine (sometimes one that does not return a value, as distinguished from a function, which does).
   • 2002, Nathan Patwardhan, Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Perl in a nutshell

     The default accessor can be overridden by declaring a sub of the same name in the package.

   • 2004, P. K. McBride, Introductory Visual Basic.NET (page 49)

     So far, all the subs and functions that we have used have been those built into the system, or those written to handle events from controls...

9. (colloquial, dated) A subordinate.
10. (colloquial, dated) A subaltern.

Synonyms

• (submarine sandwich): grinder, hoagie

Hypernyms

• (submarine sandwich): sandwich

Translations

a submarine

• Czech: ponorka (cs) f
• Finnish: sukellusvene (fi)

• German: U-Boot (de) n, (nuke) Atom-U-Boot (de) n
• Volapük: daivanaf (vo), dismelanaf (vo)

submarine sandwich

Verb

sub (third-person singular simple present subs, present participle subbing, simple past and past participle subbed)

1. (US, informal) To substitute for.
2. (US, informal) To work as a substitute teacher, especially in primary and secondary education.
3. (UK, informal, soccer) To replace (a player) with a substitute.

   He never really made a contribution to the match, so it was no surprise when he was subbed at half time.

4. (UK, informal, soccer) Less commonly, and often as sub on, to bring on (a player) as a substitute.

   He was subbed on half way through the second half, and scored within minutes.

5. (UK) To perform the work of a subeditor or copy editor; to subedit.
6. (UK, slang, transitive) To lend.
   • 2011, Rowland Rivron, What the F*** Did I Do Last Night?

     I kept up the pleasantries as we were drying our hands and, realizing I didn't have any change for the lodger, I asked him, one drummer to another like, if he could sub me a quid for the dish.

7. (slang, intransitive) To subscribe.

Etymology 2

From Latin sub.

Preposition

sub

1. Under.

Verb

sub (third-person singular simple present subs, present participle subbing, simple past and past participle subbed)

1. To coat with a layer of adhering material; to planarize by means of such a coating.
2. (microscopy) To prepare (a slide) with an layer of transparent substance to support and/or fix the sample.
   • 1997, Marina A. Lynch, S. M. O'Mara (editors), Ali D. Hames, D. Rickwood (series editors), Neuroscience Labfax, page 166,

     Ensure that gloves are worn when handling subbed slides. Although the following protocol describes subbing with gelatin, slides may also be coated with either 3-(triethoxysilyl-)propylamine (TESPA) or poly-L-lysine for in situ hybridization.

See also

• switch (one who is willing to take either a sadistic or a masochistic role)

Anagrams

• bus, bus.
• UBS
• USB

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Esperanto

Etymology

From Latin sub.

Preposition

sub

1. under, below

Antonyms

• super

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Ido

Preposition

sub

1. under, below

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Italian

Noun

sub m, f (invariable)

1. skin-diver, scuba diver

Synonyms

• subacqueo

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *upo.

Preposition

sub (+ ablative)

1. under, beneath
2. behind
3. at the feet of
4. within, during
5. about, around (time)

Derived terms

• sub rosa
• subtus

Preposition

sub (+ accusative)

1. under, up to, up under, close to (of a motion)
2. until, before, up to, about

Descendants

• French: sous
• English: sub
• Portuguese: sob
• Spanish: so

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Lojban

Rafsi

sub

1. rafsi of sfubu.

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Romanian

Alternative forms

• (popular) subt, supt

Etymology

From Latin subtus, from sub.

Preposition

sub

1. under, below, beneath, underneath

Derived terms

• dedesubt

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Swedish

Noun

sub c

1. (slang) a subwoofer, a bass loudspeaker; Contraction of subwoofer.

Declension

Declension of sub

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sub	subben	subbar	subbarna
genitive	subs	subbens	subbars	subbarnas

See also

• subba
• subbe