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scrub

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Late Middle English shrobbe in the sense of "stunted tree," a variant of shrub, from Old English scrybb. Doublet of shrub.

Adjective

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scrub (comparative more scrub, superlative most scrub)

  1. (obsolete) Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby.

Noun

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scrub (countable and uncountable, plural scrubs)

  1. (uncountable) A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant.
    oak scrub
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
  3. (uncountable) 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.
  5. (countable, 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.; particularly a male animal poorly suited for breeding.
  7. (countable, derogatory) One who labors hard and lives meanly.
    • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress:
      A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind.
    • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield:
      We should go there in as proper a manner possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us.
    • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
      I daresay we can find one of those devoted, hard-working little scrubs who are glad to come for nothing and live on the table leavings.
  8. (countable, slang, derogatory) One who is incompetent or unable to complete easy tasks.
    Wow, she really scored 0? What a scrub!
  9. (countable, sports, slang) One not on the first team of players; a substitute.
  10. (countable, online gaming, slang, derogatory) A player who whines when outmatched by other players, sometimes by blaming the game mechanics or even accusing the other players of cheating.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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

Verb

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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, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening.
    Near-synonyms: clean, rub, scour, wash
    to scrub a floor with a cleanser
    to scrub your fingernails
    to scrub the walls with a sponge
    • 1892, Royal Astronomical Society, Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society‎[1], volumes 50-51, Blackwell Scientific, page 162:
      For this purpose it was scrubbed with cotton wool dipped in a strong solution of caustic potash, then washed down with water, scrubbed again with cotton wool and absolute alcohol, and after another washing with water, thoroughly scrubbed with cotton wool and strong nitric acid.
    1. (intransitive) 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.
    2. (intransitive) 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.
    3. (intransitive, figuratively) To be diligent and penurious.
      I've had to scrub hard for a living
  2. (transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable.
    I will scrub the inefficiencies out of the system.
    We scrubbed the low performers from the team.
    It's impossible to scrub data from the internet.
    1. (transitive) To call off (a scheduled event); to cancel (something).
      Engineers had to scrub the satellite launch due to bad weather.
      The project has been scrubbed in the latest budget.
    2. (transitive, finance, auditing) 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.
    3. (law) To study in great detail a contract or other agreement in order to identify and remove risks, liability or other issues.
    4. (transitive, databases) 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.
    5. (transitive) To remove unflattering or unhelpful information from (something).
      She's scrubbing her social media accounts before the background check begins.
    6. (transitive, chemistry) To remove impurities from a gas or vapor.
      • 1932 January, Floyd B. Hobart and D. J. Demorest, Bulletin‎[2], numbers 57-69, Engineering Experiment Station of the Ohio State University, page 11:
        The gas passed through towers T1 and T2 in series and was scrubbed counter-currently with dilute H2SO4 to recover ammonia.
  3. To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing.
    scrub the ground (dance move)
    1. (gaming) To play a video game without skills; to button mash.
    2. (media) 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.
    3. (media) To maneuver the play position on a media editing system by using a scroll bar or touch-based interface.
      Synonym: seek
    4. (equestrianism, of a rider) To move the arms alongside a horse's head in sync with its stride, as to urge it forward.
    5. (intransitive, driving, of a vehicle or tire) To shudder when taking tight turns or hitting bumps due to wheel misalignment, cold weather or problems with the suspension.
      • 2022, Nathan Rose, Motorcycle Accident Reconstruction‎[3], SAE International, page 168:
        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.
    6. (transitive, motor racing) Synonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them.”)
    7. (transitive, dirtbikes) To ride so as to lean horizontally when ascending a slope in order to jump the dirtbike.
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Translations
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Noun

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scrub (plural scrubs)

  1. An instance of scrubbing.
  2. A cancellation.
    • 1988, AIAA 26th Aerospace Sciences Meeting: January 11-14:
      Unacceptable winds aloft caused four scrubs and one hold; adverse weather caused a scrub; […]
  3. A worn-out brush.
    • 1752, Robert Ainsworth, Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius:
      A scrub [broom worn out] Scopa detrita.
  4. One who scrubs.
    Coordinate term: scrubber
  5. That which scrubs.
    Coordinate term: scrubber
    1. An exfoliant for the body.
  6. (medicine) Attributive form of scrubs (“clothing worn while performing surgery”).
  7. (by extension) Attributive form of scrubs (“any medical uniform consisting of a short-sleeved shirt and pants (trousers)”).
  8. (slang, obsolete) Informal attire or dress code; morning dress.
    • 1876, “Hightum, Titum, and Scrub!”, in The Leisure Hour‎[4]:
      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."
    • 1920, E. F. Benson, Queen Lucia‎[5]:
      For one of Lucia's quaint ideas was to divide dresses into three classes, "Hightum," "Tightum" and "Scrub."
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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scrub

  1. alternative form of schrub
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