scrub

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive), Verb (intransitive), Adjective
• COUNT in NET: 2 in 2 verses (in OT : 2 in 2 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

scrub, v. t. [OE. scrobben, probably of Dutch or Scand. origin; cf. Dan. skrubbe, Sw. skrubba, D. schrobben, LG. schrubben.].

 To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening; as, to scrub a floor, a doorplate.  [1913 Webster]

scrub, v. i. 

 To rub anything hard, especially with a wet brush; to scour; hence, to be diligent and penurious; as, to scrub hard for a living.  [1913 Webster]

scrub, n. 

•  One who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow.  Bunyan.  [1913 Webster]

  "We should go there in as proper a manner as possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us."  [1913 Webster]
•  Something small and mean.  [1913 Webster]
•  A worn-out brush.  Ainsworth.  [1913 Webster]
•  A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant; as, oak scrub, palmetto scrub, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the common live stock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed, esp. when inferior in size, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  Vegetation of inferior quality, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush; -- called also scrub brush. See Brush, above.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  A low, straggling tree of inferior quality.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Scrub bird (Zoöl.), an Australian passerine bird of the family Atrichornithidæ, as Atrichia clamosa; -- called also brush bird. -- Scrub oak (Bot.), the popular name of several dwarfish species of oak. The scrub oak of New England and the Middle States is Quercus ilicifolia, a scraggy shrub; that of the Southern States is a small tree (Q. Catesbæi); that of the Rocky Mountain region is Q. undulata, var. Gambelii. -- Scrub robin (Zoöl.), an Australian singing bird of the genus Drymodes.

scrub, a. 

 Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby.  [1913 Webster]
"How solitary, how scrub, does this town look!"  [1913 Webster]
"No little scrub joint shall come on my board."  [1913 Webster]

Scrub game, a game, as of ball, by unpracticed players. -- Scrub race, a race between scrubs, or between untrained animals or contestants.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

scrub, v. & n.
--v. (scrubbed, scrubbing)
1 tr. rub hard so as to clean, esp. with a hard brush.
2 intr. use a brush in this way.
3 intr. (often foll. by up) (of a surgeon etc.) thoroughly clean the hands and arms by scrubbing, before operating.
4 tr. colloq. scrap or cancel (a plan, order, etc.).
5 tr. use water to remove impurities from (gas etc.).
--n. the act or an instance of scrubbing; the process of being scrubbed.

Idiom

scrubbing-brush (US scrub-brush) a hard brush for scrubbing floors. scrub round colloq. circumvent, avoid.

scrub, n.
1 a vegetation consisting mainly of brushwood or stunted forest growth. b an area of land covered with this.
2 (of livestock) of inferior breed or physique (often attrib.: scrub horse).
3 a small or dwarf variety (often attrib.: scrub pine).
4 US Sport colloq. a team or player not of the first class.

Idiom

scrub turkey a megapode. scrub typhus a rickettsial disease of the W. Pacific transmitted by mites.

Derivative

scrubby adj.

Etymology

ME, var. of SHRUB(1)

THESAURUS

scrub

a nobody, a nothing, abandon, ablate, ablation, ablution, abort, abrade, abrase, abrasion, abrasive, afforestation, arboretum, attrition, baptize, bark, bath, bathe, belay, boondocks, bramble, brier, brier bush, brush, brushwood, buff, buffing, burnishing, bush, bushveld, call off, cancel, cease, chafe, chafing, chase, cipher, cleaning out, cleanse, climax forest, cloud forest, common man, cut it out, dendrology, desist, detrition, discontinue, do away with, douche, douching, dressing, drop, drop it, dummy, elution, elutriation, end, enema, erase, erasure, erode, erosion, figurehead, file, filing, flush, flush out, flushing, flushing out, forest, forest land, forest preserve, forestry, fray, frazzle, fret, fretting, fringing forest, gall, gallery forest, galling, gargle, give over, give up, gnaw, gnaw away, grate, graze, grazing, greenwood, grind, grinding, halt, hanger, have done with, hold, holystone, index forest, insignificancy, irrigate, irrigation, jackstraw, jungle, jungles, knock it off, lather, lathering, launder, lavabo, lavage, lavation, lave, laving, lay off, leave off, lightweight, limation, little fellow, little guy, man of straw, mediocrity, mop, mop up, mopping, mopping up, national forest, nebbish, nobody one knows, nonentity, obscurity, palmetto barrens, park, park forest, pine barrens, pip-squeak, polish, polishing, poor relation, primeval forest, protection forest, punk, quit, rain forest, rasp, rasping, raze, reforestation, refrain, relinquish, renounce, rinse, rinse out, rinsing, ritually immerse, rub, rub away, rub off, rub out, rubbing away, runt, sandblasting, sanding, scour, scouring, scrape, scraping, scratch, scratching, scrub up, scrubbing, scrubbing up, scrubland, scrubwood, scuff, secondary, selection forest, shampoo, shining, shower, shrimp, shrub, shrubbery, shrubland, shrubwood, silviculture, skin, sluice, sluice out, small fry, small potato, small potatoes, smoothing, soap, soaping, sponge, sponging, sprout forest, squirt, squit, stand of timber, state forest, stay, stop, subaltern, subordinate, swab, swabbing, syringe, terminate, timber, timberland, toivel, tree veld, tub, underling, understrapper, virgin forest, wash, wash out, wash up, washing, washing up, washout, washup, wear, wear away, wearing away, whiffet, whippersnapper, wildwood, wiping up, wood, woodland, woods

ROGET THESAURUS

scrub

Cleanness

VB be clean, render clean, clean, cleanse, mundify, rinse, wring, flush, full, wipe, mop, sponge, scour, swab, scrub, brush up, wash, lave, launder, buck, absterge, deterge, decrassify, clear, purify, depurate, despumate, defecate, purge, expurgate, elutriate, lixiviate, edulcorate, clarify, refine, rack, filter, filtrate, drain, strain, disinfect, fumigate, ventilate, deodorize, whitewash, castrate, emasculate, sift, winnow, pick, weed, comb, rake, brush, sweep, rout out, clear out, sweep out, make a clean sweep of.

Uncleanness

N uncleanness, impurity, immundity, immundicity, impurity, defilement, contamination, defoedation, soilure, soiliness, abomination, leaven, taint, tainture, fetor, decay, putrescence, putrefaction, corruption, mold, must, mildew, dry rot, mucor, rubigo, slovenry, slovenliness, squalor, dowdy, drab, slut, malkin, slattern, sloven, slammerkin, slammock, slummock, scrub, draggle-tail, mudlark, dust-man, sweep, beast, dirt, filth, soil, slop, dust, cobweb, flue, smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff, sossle, sozzle, sordes, dregs, grounds, lees, argol, sediment, settlement heeltap, dross, drossiness, mother, precipitate, scoriae, ashes, cinders, recrement, slag, scum, froth, hogwash, ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater, rinsings, cheeseparings, sweepings, offscourings, outscourings, off scum, caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff, scurf, scurfiness, exuviae, morphea, fur, furfur, dandruff, tartar, riffraff, vermin, louse, flea, bug, chinch, mud, mire, quagmire, alluvium, silt, sludge, slime, slush, slosh, sposh, spawn, offal, gurry, lientery, garbage, carrion, excreta, slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria, faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, shit, sewage, sewerage, muck, coprolite, guano, manure, compost, dunghill, colluvies, mixen, midden, bog, laystall, sink, privy, jakes, toilet, john, head, cess, cesspool, sump, sough, cloaca, latrines, drain, sewer, common sewer, Cloacina, dust hole, sty, pigsty, lair, den, Augean stable, sink of corruption, slum, rookery, dirty, filthy, grimy, unclean, impure, soiled, not to be handled with kid gloves, dusty, snuffy, smutty, sooty, smoky, thick, turbid, dreggy, slimy, mussy, slovenly, untidy, messy, uncleanly, unkempt, sluttish, dowdy, draggle-tailed, uncombed, unscoured, unswept, unwiped, unwashed, unstrained, unpurified, squalid, lutose, slammocky, slummocky, sozzly, nasty, coarse, foul, offensive, abominable, beastly, reeky, reechy, fetid, decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty, putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied, saprogenic, saprogenous, purulent, carious, peccant, fecal, feculent, stercoraceous, excrementitious, scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous, gory, bloody, rotting, rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese, crapulous, gross, fimetarious, fimicolous, they that touch pitch will be defiled.

Commonalty

N commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet.

Friction

VB rub, scratch, scrape, scrub, slide, fray, rasp, graze, curry, scour, polish, rub out, wear down, gnaw, file, grind, set one's teeth on edge, rosin.

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.