Scrub
[skrʌb]
Definition
(noun.) the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water.
(noun.) dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes.
(verb.) wash thoroughly; 'surgeons must scrub prior to an operation'.
(verb.) clean with hard rubbing; 'She scrubbed his back'.
(adj.) (of domestic animals) not selectively bred .
Checked by Elisha--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) 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.
(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.
(n.) One who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow.
(n.) Something small and mean.
(n.) A worn-out brush.
(n.) A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant; as, oak scrub, palmetto scrub, etc.
(n.) One of the common live stock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed, esp. when inferior in size, etc.
(a.) Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby.
Typist: Richard
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Scour, cleanse, clean, rub hard.
v. n. Work hard.
n. Mean fellow.
Edited by Claudette
Definition
v.t.. to rub hard esp. with something rough.—v.i. to be laborious and penurious:—pr.p. scrub′bing; pa.t. and pa.p. scrubbed.—n. one who works hard and lives meanly: anything small or mean: a worn-out brush: low underwood: a bush: a stunted shrub: a worthless horse.—p.adj. Scrubbed (Shak.)=Scrubby.—ns. Scrub′ber in Australia an animal which breaks away from the herd: a machine for washing leather after the tanpit; Scrub′bing; Scrub′bing-board a wash-board; Scrub′bing-brush a brush with short stiff bristles; Scrub′-bird an Australian bird.—adj. Scrub′by laborious and penurious: mean: small: stunted in growth: covered with scrub.—ns. Scrub′-grass the scouring-rush; Scrub′-oak a name of three low American oaks; Scrub′-rid′er one who rides in search of cattle that stray from the herd into the scrub; Scrub′-rob′in a bird inhabiting the Australian scrub; Scrub′stone a species of calciferous sandstone; Scrub′-tur′key a mound-bird; Scrub′-wood a small tree.
Inputed by Hubert
Examples
- Any literary scrub, or shabby, whining artist. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The fascists had attacked and we had stopped them on that slope in the gray rocks, the scrub pines and the gorse of the Guadarrama hillsides. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Robert Jordan dropped down to where Agustín lay in the clump of scrub pines behind the automatic rifle and more planes were coming all the time. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The scrub pines growing in the rock hide them well. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I can cook yet, and scrub, and scour,--I'm wuth a buying, if I do come cheap;--tell em dat ar,--you _tell_ em, she added, earnestly. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Why, you know I don't mind hard jobs much, and there must always be one scrub in a family. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The floors of the entire plant are scrubbed at least once a week, with hot water and a strong solution of alkali, which removes the grease. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- They taught also how the gas should be distilled, condensed, cleaned, scrubbed, confined in retorts, and its flow measured and controlled. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The tables, of white scrubbed wood, were placed round three sides of the room, as in a Gasthaus. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Painting, chopping wood, hammering, plowing, washing, scrubbing, sewing, are all forms of work. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- There was no one in sight, however, but a char-woman who was scrubbing the stairs. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The removal of the caked grease is difficult, and if soap alone is used, the cleaning of the tub requires both patience and hard scrubbing. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- There is a dreadful amount of forcible scrubbing and arranging and pocketing implied in some socialisms. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Borrowing of Gotonthe cuisinière, a pail of water and a scrubbing-brush, I made this seat clean. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- He went on scrubbing, and paid no attention. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The labor can be greatly lessened by moistening the scrubbing cloth with turpentine and applying it to the greasy film, which immediately dissolves and thus can be easily removed. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Editor: Winthrop