grub

nounverbattested in dialogue

Ireland//ɡɹʊb//
//ɡɹʌb//

An insect, especially a beetle, at an immature stage of its life cycle.

noun

1
An insect, especially a beetle, at an immature stage of its life cycle.
2
slangFood.
pub grub
"The rice ration's down to nearly damn-all in the kampongs, but we keep finding dumps of grub in the forest."
3
slangA dirty person.
4
slangA despicable person; a lowlife.
5
obsoleteA short, thick man; a dwarf.
John Romane, a short clownish grub, would bear the whole carcase of an ox, yet never tugged with him.

Etymology

From Middle English grubben, grobben, from Old English *grubbian, from Proto-West Germanic *grubb-, from Proto-Germanic *grubb- (compare Middle Dutch grobben (“to scrape, scramble, grab”), Old High German grubilōn (“to dig, search”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”)), from Proto-Germanic *grub- (“to dig”) (see *grabaną). The noun sense of "larva" is from Middle English grub, grubbe, grobbe, crubbe and may derive from the notion of "digging insect" from the verb above, or from the uncertainly related Middle English grub (“dwarfish fellow”). Compare West Frisian krobbe (“beetle”). The slang sense of "food" is first recorded 1659, and has been linked with birds eating grubs or with bub (“drink”).

verb

1
To scavenge or in some way scrounge, typically for food.
2
To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; often followed by up.
to grub up trees, rushes, or sedge
They do not attempt to grub up the root of sin.
Yet there was no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers.
3
datedTo supply with food.
4
datedTo eat.
“[…] John dear, we must give this little fellow his supper, you know.” “Of course we must, my darling.” “He has been grubbing and grubbing at school,” said Bella, looking at her father’s hand and lightly slapping it, “till he’s not fit to be seen. O what a grubby child!”

Forms

plural: grubs
past tense: grubbed
past participle: grubbed
present participle: grubbing
third person singular: grubs

grown · Covered by growth; overgrown.grown-up · Adult, physically mature.growth · An increase in size, number, value, or strength.

grub · An insect, especially a beetle, at an immature stage of its life cycle.

Gruber · A surname.grudge · Deep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about…gruesome · Repellently frightful and shocking; ghastly, horrific.

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