the young of certain animals, as the bear, lion, or tiger.
a young shark.
a young and inexperienced person, especially a callow youth or young man.
a young person serving as an apprentice.
(initial capital letter) any small, light monoplane with a high wing, a single engine, and an enclosed cabin.
to work as a cub reporter.
(of a female bear, lion, tiger, etc.) to give birth to a cub or cubs.
to hunt fox cubs.
the young of certain animals, such as the lion, bear, etc
a young or inexperienced person
First recorded in 1520–30; perhaps from Scandinavian; compare Old Norse kobbi “young seal,” kubbr “stump,” hence, “short, thick-set person”
A cub is a baby animal. A mother fox sometimes carries her cub by the scruff of its neck. Use the word cub when you talk about one of a number of meat-eating mammal babies, including bears, foxes, lions, and tigers. While a tiny bear cub looks as adorable and helpless as a stuffed animal, its mother is ferocious and protective of her cubs. In the old days, people also called a young, immature boy a cub — today, a human cub is more likely to be a junior Boy Scout — a Cub Scout.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“But for once, CUB is here to assure people that you can actually save money, and it’s a great program.”
From Seattle Times • Nov. 7, 2022
A tour de force account of Noah’s ark features a long roll call of animals: “GET DOS . . . COW AND CUB/ BEE AND BOA/ YAK AND LEO/ DOE AND DOG.”
From New York Times • Jan. 3, 2019
“We will change the way the CUB looks drastically,” Allen said.
From Washington Times • Aug. 9, 2015
CUB RUN, Ky. — An Amish teenager was killed when the horse-drawn buggy he was driving without a safety reflector was struck from behind by a sport-utility vehicle in south-central Kentucky.
From Washington Post • Nov. 19, 2011
The very moment he saw it Denys said in a sickening whisper— "THE CUB!"
From The Cloister and the Hearth by Reade, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
