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

“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

The primary suite has access to a private balcony, a built-in tub, and a separate shower.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

But at £32.99 for a 420g tub, she's feeling the high price and tries to make the product stretch.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

The DJ was silhouetted by a large window display of a gigantic, human-sized plastic re-creation of Raising Cane’s chicken tenders and crinkle-cut fries being dipped into a tub of Cane’s Sauce.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

The tub was a massive claw-footed affair of enameled copper.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

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

Now found in tubs and bags on many supermarket shelves and tagged in your social feeds, it is the supplement of choice for millions of people and one of the most scientifically researched.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The bathrooms boast large soaking tubs and chic vanities.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Even yogurt containers and margarine tubs — made of ubiquitous polypropylene, or #5 plastic — are being recycled at a rate of only 2% in the state, the report said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

She knew how to make it taste just like the stuff you’d get in a theater—better, even—and she’d get those red-and-white-striped tubs they have there to make it feel even more authentic.

From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell

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

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

He insisted on being tubbed all over, with soap, and criticised me all the while.

From Boycotted And Other Stories by Talbot Baines Reed

He roared like a baby who is being tubbed, but finally recovered his spirits, and allowed himself to be raised from the ground.

From Eyes Like the Sea by Mór Jókai

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

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

A camel might have lived there with content; it was no place for a family used to the delights of tubbing.

From The Quest of the Simple Life by William J. Dawson

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

Thus, more and more Ruth turned to the mongrel dog who bore the name of Rollo unflinchingly—the dog that adored her openly, shamelessly, who now without a whimper took his diurnal tubbing.

From The Ragged Edge by Harold MacGrath

After two yards of soil had been removed from beneath the edge of the tubbing, the earth began to give way.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885 by Various

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