tub

American  

[tuhb] / tʌb /

noun

• tubs
  plural

1. a bathtub.

2. a broad, round, open, wooden container, usually made of staves held together by hoops and fitted around a flat bottom.

3. any of various containers resembling or suggesting a tub.

   a tub for washing clothes.

4. the amount a tub will hold.

5. Informal. a short and fat person.

6. Nautical. an old, slow, or clumsy vessel.

7. British Informal. a bath in a bathtub.

8. Mining. an ore car; tram.

9. Military Slang. a two-seat aircraft, especially a trainer.

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verb (used with object)

tubbed, tubbing

1. to place or keep in a tub.

2. British Informal. to bathe in a bathtub.

verb (used without object)

tubbed, tubbing

1. British Informal. to bathe oneself in a bathtub.

2. Informal. to undergo washing, especially without damage, as a fabric.

   This cotton print tubs well.

tub British  

/ tʌb /

noun

1. a low wide open container, typically round, originally one made of wood and used esp for washing: now made of wood, plastic, metal, etc, and used in a variety of domestic and industrial situations

2. a small plastic or cardboard container of similar shape for ice cream, margarine, etc

3. Also called: bathtub. another word (esp US and Canadian) for bath 1

4. Also called: tubful. the amount a tub will hold

5. a clumsy slow boat or ship

6. informal (in rowing) a heavy wide boat used for training novice oarsmen

7. Also called: tram, hutch.

   1. a small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine

   2. a container for lifting coal or ore up a mine shaft; skip

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verb

1. informal to wash (oneself or another) in a tub

2. (tr) to keep or put in a tub

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tubber
  noun
• undertub
  noun
• tubbable
  adjective
• tublike
  adjective
• untubbed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tubs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tub

1350–1400; Middle English tubbe (noun) < Middle Dutch tobbe; cognate with Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe

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Explanation

A tub is a wide, open container. You might have a tub of butter in your fridge, but if your mom tells you to hop in the tub, stay out of the kitchen. She means it's time for a bath. Tub is an informal word for bathtub, the fixture in your bathroom that can be filled with water and bathed in. Other tubs are containers used to hold liquid or other materials — think of a tub of margarine or a tub of ice cream. In the 17th century, tub was slang for "pulpit" or "lectern," and a tub thumper was an overly enthusiastic orator or preacher.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tub tubs tubbed tubbing

Be generous with napkins, too, and pro tip: tuck a bus tub — which you can buy online or from a restaurant supply store — somewhere discreet for used dishes.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

Outside, the property offers an array of recreational features, including a swimming pool and a hot tub large enough to accommodate 10 people.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

Will £12 for a tub eventually start to put people off though?

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

“A walk to the Grove, a movie over a shared tub of popcorn, and a stop at the Kibitz Room on the way home.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

"Have you ever taken a bath since? Filled the tub deeper than your ankles?"

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

These companies saw hundreds of customers queueing to create their own dessert pot, despite it not being a particularly cheap treat, with tubs costing as much as £12.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Pedestrians in plastic rain ponchos trudged through murky floodwaters in Bangkok's east -- knee-deep in some areas of a grocery store parking lot -- floating their belongings in plastic tubs alongside them, AFP journalists saw.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

I set up my cutting board at the bar in front of the television, clean and chop everything, then stash it in labeled deli tubs.

From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026

There are hot tubs and cold tubs and a players-only sauna, while every locker is outfitted with a leather zero gravity chair.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

“Isaiah doesn’t say which is evil, butter or honey,” Dad said, grinning as my brothers lugged the white tubs to the basement.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Then I turned the corner: Freezers lined with beautiful tubbed sauces and pastas.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

They generally admired Romney's pink-cheeked Willett Children for seeming recently tubbed and scrubbed yet true-to-life.

From Time Magazine Archive

Have your prospective souvenir tree tubbed and the tub sunk in the ground, of course, to its rim.

From The Amateur Garden by George Washington Cable

The day I left home to be married, I "tubbed" all my little brothers and sisters and washed their fair hair.

From The Story of My Life Recollections and Reflections by Ellen Terry

The first suggestion that I should go out to be tubbed came from the gray-bearded dean of the college, who happened at the time to be taking me to the master for formal presentation.

From An American at Oxford by John Corbin

He then takes her to a winter wonderland for some light luging and hot tubbing.

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

The interval between the back of the tubbing and the sides of the borehole is then filled up with concrete, which on setting fixes the tubbing firmly in position.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various

Gingold was tubbing yesterday and Fitzroy was coaching.

From Sinister Street, vol. 2 by Compton MacKenzie

The tubbing consists of short portions of cast-iron cylinder fixed in segments. 

From Lives of the Engineers The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson by Samuel Smiles

However, she made no fetish of tubbing herself once a day, and thought on to more important considerations.

From Clark's Field by Robert Herrick

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