tub

English

Etymology

From Middle English tubbe, tobbe, from Middle Dutch tubbe or Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe, further etymology unknown. Considered to be unrelated to tube.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tŭb, IPA^(key): /tʌb/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌb

Noun

tub (plural tubs)

Tub of cottage cheese, lid, and lidding film

1. A flat-bottomed vessel, of width similar to or greater than its height, used for storing or packing things, or for washing things in.

   He bought a tub of lard to roast the potatoes in.

2. The contents or capacity of such a vessel.

   She added a tub of margarine to the stew.

3. A bathtub.
   • 1920, Theodore Sharpe, My Place in the Shade: And Various Verse (page 27)

     Teach me to love my morning tub, / In waters cold to splash and rub; / O, grant my Turkish towel may flood / Its virtues through my soul and blood.

4. (nautical, informal) A slow-moving craft.
5. (humorous or derogatory) Any structure shaped like a tub, such as a certain old form of pulpit, a short broad boat, etc.
   • 1698, Robert South, Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions:

     All being took up and busied, some in pulpits and some in tubs, in the grand work of preaching and holding forth.

6. A small cask.

   a tub of gin

7. Any of various historically designated quantities of goods to be sold by the tub (butter, oysters, etc).
8. (mining) A box or bucket in which coal or ore is sent up a shaft.
9. (obsolete) A sweating in a tub; a tub fast.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act 4, scene 3]:

     tubs and baths; bring down rose-cheeked youth
     To the tub-fast and the diet

10. (slang) A corpulent or obese person.
    • 2003, Trey Ellis, Platitudes: & the New Black Aesthetic (page 139)

      Donald tells him to be more realistic. Take those two girls over there, for example. One's a zitface and the other's a tub, so they'd be perfect for them.

Derived terms

• bathtub
• hot tub
• powdering tub
• tub-fast
• tubby

Translations

broad, flat-bottomed vessel

• Catalan: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 桶 (zh) (tǒng), 盆 (zh) (pén)

• Danish: kar n
• Dutch: teil (nl) m
• Esperanto: kuvo
• Faroese: kar (fo) n
• Finnish: saavi (fi)
• French: bassine (fr) f
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: (small, e.g. for icecream) Dose (de); (large, e.g. for washing or flowers) Kübel (de) m, Bottich (de) m
• Greek: κάδος (el) m (kádos)

  Ancient: πλυνός m (plunós)

• Hungarian: kád (hu)
• Icelandic: ker (is) n
• Irish: dabhach m, umar m, leastar m, tobán m
• Italian: tinozza (it) f, vaschetta (it) f, contenitore (it) m

• Japanese: 桶 (ja) (おけ, oke)
• Khmer: ធុងឈើ (tʰuŋ cʰəə)
• Latin: linter f, cupa f
• Latvian: kubls (lv) m
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: toube f
• Norwegian: kar (no) n
• Persian: تغار‎ (fa) (taγār)
• Plautdietsch: Bett (nds) f
• Portuguese: tina (pt) f
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: ка́дка (ru) f (kádka), бадья́ (ru) f (badʹjá), уша́т (ru) m (ušát), коры́то (ru) n (korýto)
• Slovak: kaďa
• Spanish: cuba (es) f, tina (es) f
• Swedish: kar (sv) n
• Yiddish: ביט‎ m (bit)

contents or capacity of such a vessel

• Finnish: saavillinen

• Latvian: kubls (lv) m

bathtub — see bathtub

slow-moving craft

• Finnish: amme (fi), ruuhi (fi)
• French: rafiot (fr) m
• Irish: leastar m, pota m

• Italian: bagnarola f
• Russian: посудина (ru) f (posudina)

Verb

tub (third-person singular simple present tubs, present participle tubbing, simple past and past participle tubbed)

1. (transitive) To plant, set, or store in a tub.

   to tub a plant

2. (transitive, intransitive) To bathe in a tub.
   • February 1, 1873, Meredith Townsend and Richard Holt Hutton (editors), "Change of Air and Scene", in The Spectator

     Don't we all "tub" in England?

Further reading

• tub on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• BTU, TBU, but, but-

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈtup/

Noun

tub m (plural tubs)

1. tube

Related terms

• tubular

Further reading

• “tub” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Juba Arabic

Noun

tub

1. brick

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Kavalan

Noun

tub

1. lid

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tube, Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tub]

Noun

tub n (plural tuburi)

1. tube

Declension

Declension of tub

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) tub	tubul	(niște) tuburi	tuburile
genitive/dative	(unui) tub	tubului	(unor) tuburi	tuburilor
vocative	tubule		tuburilor

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White Hmong

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu˥/

Noun

tub

1. son

References

• Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)