(historical, slang, uncountable) An alcoholic malt liquor, especially beer.
Bub is made from ground barley and strong worts, and sometimes from strong small worts from the coolers, properly blended and boiled with some hops, in the proportion of one pound to a barrel of worts. 1838, Samuel Morewood, A Philosophical and Statistical History of the Inventions and Customs of Ancient and Modern Nations in the Manufacture and Use of Inebriating Liquors, page 662:
"You can't remember your *name*? Heh. Well, NEXT time you spend a night in this berg, go easy on the bub." 1999 October 12, Black Isle Studios, quoting Morte, Planescape: Torment, Interplay Entertainment:
‘Mr. Blanford, I esteem that there is nothing more sublime in nature than a glimpse of an English lady's bubs.’ 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Penguin, published 2004, page 631:
Either a corruption of brother, a modification of bud, or a borrowing from Pennsylvania German Bub or Southern German Bub (as was spoken in various communities in America before the early 20th century), ultimately thought to be derived from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“close [male] relation”) and thus cognate to English boy and babe.
Other probable cognates
West Frisian bobbe, German Bube (“boy”), dialectal Swedish babbe (“little boy”), English babe, baby, and bully, Dutch boef (“mischievous lad, rascal”), Middle Low German bôve, and Icelandic bófi.
Meanings
A term of familiar address; bubba; bubby.
So he changed his brusque manner, and inquired, in a tone which was intended to be extremely conciliatory :
‘ What′s your name, bub ? ’
‘ The last one, Sir ? ’ asked bub, looking up. 1857, T. B. Aldrich, What Jedd Pallfry found in the Coffin: The Knickerbocker, volume 49, page 23:
1857, Clara Augusta, Mrs. Peter Dame, George R. Graham, Graham′s Illustrated Magazine, Volume 50, page 398,
Mrs. Peter filled her pocket with the cherries — “ Victoria and bub are so fond of them!” and we scrambled into the wagon.
A young brother; a little boy; a familiar term of address for a small boy.
We passed on so far forth till we saw
Rude Acheron, a loathsome lake to tell,
That boils and bubs up swelth as black as hell 1563, Thomas Sackville, The Induction: