Late Middle English shrobbe in the sense of "stunted tree," a variant of shrub, from Old English scrybb. Doublet of shrub.
Meanings
(uncountable) A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant.
I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
oak scrub
(uncountable) Vegetation judged to be of inferior quality or of little use to humans, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush.
(US, countable, qualifier:stock breeding) One of the common livestock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed, especially when inferior in size, etc.; particularly a male animal poorly suited for breeding.
(countable, derogatory) One who labors hard and lives meanly.
We should go there in as proper a manner possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us. 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield:
A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind. 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress:
I daresay we can find one of those devoted, hard-working little scrubs who are glad to come for nothing and live on the table leavings. 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
(countable, derogatory, slang) One who is incompetent or unable to complete easy tasks.
A scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly
And is also known as a buster
Always talkin' about what he wants
And just sits on his broke ass […] 1999 February 2, TLC, “No Scrubs”
Wow, she really scored 0? What a scrub!
You triflin', good-for-nothin' type of brother
Silly me, why haven't I found another?
A baller, when times get hard I need someone to help me out
Instead of a scrub like you who don't know what a man's about 1999 May 31, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett, Kevin Briggs, Kandi Burruss, “Bills, Bills, Bills”, in The Writing's on the Wall, performed by Destiny's Child, track 3:
(countable, slang) One not on the first team of players; a substitute.
(Internet, countable, derogatory, slang) A player who whines when outmatched by other players, sometimes by blaming the game mechanics or even accusing the other players of cheating.
eo vepro (a thicket or jungle) · de Gestrüpp (vegetation of inferior quality) · mi ururua (vegetation of inferior quality) · tr bük (a thicket or jungle) · mi tāwhao (vegetation of inferior quality) · gl gasgalleira (vegetation of inferior quality) · mi taekai (vegetation of inferior quality) · es maleza (vegetation of inferior quality) · ru ничто́жество (one who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow) · fi tiheikkö (a thicket or jungle) · pt brenha (vegetation of inferior quality) · nb kjerr (a thicket or jungle) · gl freguiza (vegetation of inferior quality) · grc σκῖρος (a thicket or jungle) · fi pensaikko (a thicket or jungle) · bg шубрак (a thicket or jungle) · gl cira (vegetation of inferior quality) · mi heuheu (vegetation of inferior quality) · de Gestrüpp (a thicket or jungle) · gl touceira (vegetation of inferior quality) · fi pusikko (a thicket or jungle) · gl mato (vegetation of inferior quality) · mi mōheuheu (vegetation of inferior quality) · es breña (vegetation of inferior quality) · bg храсталак (vegetation of inferior quality) · fi puska (vegetation of inferior quality) · gl bramal (vegetation of inferior quality) · ota بوك (a thicket or jungle) · ru замо́рыш (something small and mean) · pt mato (vegetation of inferior quality) · de Buschwerk (a thicket or jungle) · fr broussaille (vegetation of inferior quality) · bg гъсталак (a thicket or jungle) · gl andruvial (vegetation of inferior quality) · gl mufedo (vegetation of inferior quality) · fi pöheikkö (vegetation of inferior quality) · cs křoviska (a thicket or jungle) · bg дребосък (something small and mean) · ru куста́рник (vegetation of inferior quality) · gl adramal (vegetation of inferior quality) · gl matogueira (vegetation of inferior quality) · mi tahuere (vegetation of inferior quality) · cs zakrslík (something small and mean) · ru скраб (vegetation of inferior quality) · fi puska (a thicket or jungle) · gl mouta (vegetation of inferior quality)
From Middle English scrobben (“groom a horse with a currycomb”); from Middle Dutch schrobben (“clean by scrubbing”).
Meanings
An instance of scrubbing.
A cancellation.
Unacceptable winds aloft caused four scrubs and one hold; adverse weather caused a scrub; […] 1988, AIAA 26th Aerospace Sciences Meeting: January 11-14:
A worn-out brush.
A scrub [broom worn out] Scopa detrita. 1752, Robert Ainsworth, Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius:
One who scrubs.
That which scrubs.
That which scrubs. ▸ An exfoliant for the body.
(attributive, form-of) Attributive form of scrubs (“clothing worn while performing surgery”).
(obsolete, slang) Informal attire or dress code; morning dress.
The third, which was as homely as its name, and which she reserved for scouring the country and such like rough usage in quite private rural life, was her "Scrub." 1876, “Hightum, Titum, and Scrub!”, in The Leisure Hour:
For one of Lucia's quaint ideas was to divide dresses into three classes, "Hightum," "Tightum" and "Scrub." 1920, E. F. Benson, Queen Lucia:
From Middle English scrobben (“groom a horse with a currycomb”); from Middle Dutch schrobben (“clean by scrubbing”).
Meanings
(transitive) To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening.
to scrub a floor with a cleanser
to scrub your fingernails
For this purpose it was scrubbed with cotton wool dipped in a strong solution of caustic potash, then washed down with water, scrubbed again with cotton wool and absolute alcohol, and after another washing with water, thoroughly scrubbed with cotton wool and strong nitric acid. 1892, Royal Astronomical Society, Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, volumes 50-51, Blackwell Scientific, page 162:
to scrub the walls with a sponge
(intransitive, transitive) To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening. ▸ To rub anything vigorously, especially with a wet brush; to scour.
She has been scrubbing for an hour, but the stain won't come out.
(intransitive, transitive) To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening. ▸ Synonym of scrub in (“To thoroughly wash one's hands and forearms in preparation for performing a surgery”).
The surgeon readied himself, dressing, scrubbing and checking his notes for the next patient.
(figuratively, intransitive, transitive) To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet brush, sponge or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning or brightening. ▸ To be diligent and penurious.
I've had to scrub hard for a living
(transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable.
We scrubbed the low performers from the team.
It's impossible to scrub data from the internet.
I will scrub the inefficiencies out of the system.
(transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. ▸ To call off (a scheduled event); to cancel (something).
Engineers had to scrub the satellite launch due to bad weather.
The project has been scrubbed in the latest budget.
(qualifier:auditing, transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. ▸ To check data in invoices and other records in order to find, fix, document or otherwise handle anomalies, errors or omissions.
Scrub the billing files.
(transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. ▸ To study in great detail a contract or other agreement in order to identify and remove risks, liability or other issues.
(transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. ▸ To eliminate or correct (data) from a set of records to bring it inline with other similar datasets.
The street segment data from the National Post Office will need to be scrubbed before it can be integrated into our system.
(transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. ▸ To remove unflattering or unhelpful information from (something).
She's scrubbing her social media accounts before the background check begins.
(transitive) To eliminate or remove (something); to render (something) unretrievable. ▸ To remove impurities from a gas or vapor.
The gas passed through towers T1 and T2 in series and was scrubbed counter-currently with dilute H2SO4 to recover ammonia. 1932 January, Floyd B. Hobart and D. J. Demorest, Bulletin, numbers 57-69, Engineering Experiment Station of the Ohio State University, page 11:
To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing.
scrub the ground (dance move)
To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ To play a video game without skills; to button mash.
To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ To move a recording tape back and forth with a scrubbing motion to produce a scratching sound, or to do so by a similar use of a control on an editing system.
To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ To maneuver the play position on a media editing system by using a scroll bar or touch-based interface.
(of a rider) To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ To move the arms alongside a horse's head in sync with its stride, as to urge it forward.
(intransitive, of a vehicle or tire, qualifier:driving) To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ To shudder when taking tight turns or hitting bumps due to wheel misalignment, cold weather or problems with the suspension.
The greater the height of the pavement edge, the more likely the tire is to scrub along the edge. The smaller the tread and sidewall heights of the tire, the more likely the tire is to scrub. 2022, Nathan Rose, Motorcycle Accident Reconstruction, SAE International, page 168:
(transitive) To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ Synonym of scrub in (“To break in new racing tires by doing a few gentle laps on them.”)
(transitive) To move or manipulate (something) with an action analogous to scrubbing. ▸ To ride so as to lean horizontally when ascending a slope in order to jump the dirtbike.