shrub

¹

[ shruhb ]

noun

1. a woody plant smaller than a tree, usually having multiple permanent stems branching from or near the ground.

shrub

²

[ shruhb ]

noun

1. any of various acidulated beverages made from the juice of fruit, sugar, and other ingredients, often including alcohol.

shrub

¹

/ ʃrʌb /

noun

1. a woody perennial plant, smaller than a tree, with several major branches arising from near the base of the main stem

shrub

²

/ ʃrʌb /

noun

1. a mixed drink of rum, fruit juice, sugar, and spice
2. mixed fruit juice, sugar, and spice made commercially to be mixed with rum or other spirits

shrub

/ shrŭb /

1. A woody plant that is smaller than a tree, usually having several stems rather than a single trunk; a bush.

Derived Forms

• ˈshrubˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• shrubless adjective
• shrublike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shrub¹

before 1000; Middle English shrubbe, Old English scrybb brushwood; cognate with dialectal Danish skrub

Origin of shrub²

1740–50; < Arabic, metathetic variant of shurb drink; sherbet

Word History and Origins

Origin of shrub¹

Old English scrybb; related to Middle Low German schrubben coarse, uneven, Old Swedish skrubba to scrub ¹

Origin of shrub²

C18: from Arabic sharāb, variant of shurb drink; see sherbet

Example Sentences

Highly portable, they’re easy to use in gardens, behind shrubs, and anywhere that collects dead leaves.

From Popular-Science

Shrubs tend to burn hot, but shrub ecosystems are well-adapted to fire.

From ProPublica

That heat and dryness turned grasses, shrubs, and trees into easy tinder, ready to ignite at the slightest spark.

From Vox

SDG&E said an increased risk from shrubs and bushes “has no relevance to the issue,” meaning it’s trees that matter here.

From Voice of San Diego

All this suggested that Antarctica was once a forest full of conifers, ferns and flowering shrubs.

From Science News For Students

Luis, whose heart was severed by the blade, had collapsed under a large shrub.

From The Daily Beast

It was supposed by many on its discovery to grow like the engraving given—in form resembling a tree or shrub rather than an herb.

From Project Gutenberg

Almost any other kind of shrub'd have died long ago, neglected as things have been, but you can't kill a currant bush.

From Project Gutenberg

Brutus was getting well, but there would always be a scar on his shoulder, where the sharp-pointed shrub had entered the flesh.

From Project Gutenberg

He shook his cramped limbs with as little ceremony as if Kano were a shrub, and then turned, with the evident intention of flight.

From Project Gutenberg

“Guayule” is a resinous rubber secured from a two-foot shrub that grows on the arid plains of Texas and Northern Mexico.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• foliage
• hedge
• shrubbery
• thicket
• topiary
• tree