nub

Translingual

Symbol

nub

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Nubian languages.

English

Etymology 1

Either directly from Middle Low German, or from knub, from a Middle Low German word (compare Low German Knubbel, Knobbel (“knot; lump”)). Compare knob.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nʌb/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /nʊb/
• Rhymes: -ʌb

Noun

nub (plural nubs)

1. (obsolete) The innermost section of a chrysalis in a silk cocoon.
2. A small lump or knob.

   Synonym: nubbin

3. The essence or core of an issue, argument etc.

   Synonyms: crux, gist; see also Thesaurus:gist

   What do you think is the nub of the problem?

   • 1895 October 3, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “How to Tell a Story”, in How to Tell a Story and Other Essays, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published 1898, →OCLC, page 4:

     Very often, of course, the rambling and disjointed humorous story finishes with a nub, point, snapper, or whatever you like to call it.

   • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 115:

     But surely the males are no problem? Aha...no we're approaching the nub.

4. (slang) The clitoris.
   • 2007, Melissa MacNeal, Hot for It‎^[1], →ISBN, page 198:

     “ — and then rub her nub with the bridge of your nose, right where the nerve will drive her straight to the ceiling!”

   • 2008, Arianna Hart, A Man for Marley‎^[2], →ISBN, page 82:

     When he used his fingers to rub her nub, he didn't have to wait anymore. She exploded for the second time that morning,...

   • 2010, Beverly Rae, Wild Cat‎^[3], →ISBN, page 81:

     He stroked her, using her movements to increase the pressure on her nub, catching her between his fingers.

5. (computing, colloquial) A pointing stick.
6. (theater) A passage of Shakespearean blank verse.
   • 2009, David Crystal, Walking English, Overlook Press, page 183:

     A nub is a passage of blank verse that Shakespearean actors have sometimes relied upon when they forget their lines. It doesn't have to make any sense, but it must sound plausible. To alert the other actors on stage that the speaker is in difficulty, the word nub is used in the first line.

   • 2013, Heathcote Williams, Nubbing, Cold Turkey Press:

     To an audience a clever nub can pass for Shakespeare himself.

Translations

a small lump or knob

• Bulgarian: бучка (bg) f (bučka)
• German: Klümpchen (de) n, Stückchen (de) n, Noppe (de) f
• Indonesian: tombol (id)

essence or core of an issue, argument etc. — see also essence,‎ core,‎ crux,‎ gist

• Bulgarian: същност (bg) f (sǎštnost)
• German: Pointe (de), Kernpunkt m, Kern (de) m
• Indonesian: inti (id), sari (id)
• Maori: ngako
• Norwegian: kjerne (no)
• Russian: суть (ru) (sutʹ)

Verb

nub (third-person singular simple present nubs, present participle nubbing, simple past and past participle nubbed)

1. (baseball) To hit the ball weakly.
2. To push; to nudge.
3. To beckon.
4. To extemporize a passage of Shakespearean blank verse
   • 2009, David Crystal, Walking English, Overlook Press, page 184:

     In Shall we Shog?, Globe artistic director Mark Rylance hilariously found himself having to nub the Quarto version of Hamlet's speech to the players.

Etymology 2

Variant spelling of noob.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nuːb/
• Rhymes: -uːb

Noun

nub (plural nubs)

1. (Internet slang) Alternative spelling of noob.

   He can't even make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? What a nub.

Anagrams

• BUN, Bun, bun

Albanian

Etymology

From English noob, from newbie.

Noun

nub m

1. (slang, chiefly Kosovo) newbie, amateur

Synonyms

• amator m, axhami m