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Grub   /grəb/   Listen
noun
Grub  n.  
1.
(Zool.) The larva of an insect, especially of a beetle; called also grubworm. See Illust. of Goldsmith beetle, under Goldsmith. "Yet your butterfly was a grub."
2.
A short, thick man; a dwarf. (Obs.)
3.
Victuals; food. (Slang)
Grub ax or Grub axe, a kind of mattock used in grubbing up roots, etc.
Grub breaker. Same as Grub hook (below).
Grub hoe, a heavy hoe for grubbing.
Grub hook, a plowlike implement for uprooting stumps, breaking roots, etc.
Grub saw, a handsaw used for sawing marble.
Grub Street, a street in London (now called Milton Street), described by Dr. Johnson as "much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems, whence any mean production is called grubstreet." As an adjective, suitable to, or resembling the production of, Grub Street. "I 'd sooner ballads write, and grubstreet lays."



verb
Grub  v. t.  
1.
To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; followed by up; as, to grub up trees, rushes, or sedge. "They do not attempt to grub up the root of sin."
2.
To supply with food. (Slang)



Grub  v. i.  (past & past part. grubbed, pres. part. grubbing)  
1.
To dig in or under the ground, generally for an object that is difficult to reach or extricate; to be occupied in digging.
2.
To drudge; to do menial work.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Grub" Quotes from Famous Books



... vexed With Green—who'd pinched his braces, That was 'continued in our next' In half a score of places. McCubbin threw his grub at Lea (You know how sticky stew is); They fought till neither man could see. You talk of fight—Gorstrike me, we Saw stacks ...
— 'Hello, Soldier!' - Khaki Verse • Edward Dyson

... "you're in a fix. You're cast away. The worst fix a man can get in, to my thinkin', is to be cast away on a rock, or on the ice, without grub. But you're cast away with grub, and that's not so bad. There's a pot of stewed bear's meat with dumplin' just ready. We'll set in and eat, and then talk about your fix. 'Tis hard to think a way out of fixes with an empty belly, and we'll fill ...
— Left on the Labrador - A Tale of Adventure Down North • Dillon Wallace

... take the shadowy form of a spectral thing, A tyrant terror that threatens our lives, whilst we rub and scrub, whilst we rinse and wring. Well, cheer up, BET, girl, stiffen your lip, and straighten your back. You have finished your grub, So to work once more; if our champions score, we may find a new end to this Tale ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100, June 20, 1891 • Various

... worse off in some respects, Dick. We have two good officers out of the four, and we have a very fair crew, and we have good grub; and the company always victual their ships well, and don't put the officers' messing into the hands of the captain, as they do in ...
— The Golden Canyon - Contents: The Golden Canyon; The Stone Chest • G. A. Henty

... dull astonishment. "Not a cent, of course; I thought I told you that. But that weren't his fault, for he never had anything, and owed me money. In fact," he added gloomily, "it was because I hadn't any more to give him—havin' sold my watch for grub—that he quo'lled with me that day, and up and called me a 'sneakin' Yankee hound.' I told you he drove ...
— Colonel Starbottle's Client and Other Stories • Bret Harte


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