drub
Americanverb (used with object)
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to beat with a stick or the like; cudgel; flog; thrash.
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to defeat decisively, as in a game or contest.
-
to drive as if by flogging.
Latin grammar was drubbed into their heads.
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to stamp (the feet).
noun
verb
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to beat as with a stick; cudgel; club
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to defeat utterly, as in a contest
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to drum or stamp (the feet)
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to instil with force or repetition
the master drubbed Latin into the boys
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of drub
1625–35; perhaps by uncertain mediation < Arabic ḍarb blow, beating
Vocabulary lists containing drub
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Bass bounded into office in 2022, buoyed by a broad coalition and Democratic wall of support that helped her drub billionaire mall mogul Rick Caruso, despite Caruso massively outspending her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2025
Bass took advantage of the new political landscape to drub her rival, notching a nearly 10-percentage-point margin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2022
On March 2, Le Batard began the local hour with a lengthy investigation into how the Los Angeles Lakers managed to drub the Miami Heat the night before, putting up 131 points.
From Slate ● Apr. 13, 2018
After all, the rule of thumb for a century has been drub the bums and play .500 against top teams.
From Washington Post ● May 30, 2016
"For what didst thou drub him, O man of peace?" inquired the glover.
From The Fair Maid of Perth Or, St. Valentine's Day by Scott, Walter, Sir
Others have had their moments: Fellow debutants Curacao scored against Germany - despite being drubbed - Jordan pushed Austria for long periods and DR Congo held Portugal.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
The Cardinals’ friskiness is being chatted about because of preseason expectations, but they’ve quietly been drubbed the last three weeks, losing by more than two touchdowns in all three weeks while failing to cover.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2023
Like Gasol, Parker was won over by the 1992 Summer Olympics, when the Hall of Famer-laden Americans drubbed the French national team by 50 points.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2023
The two have met twice this century, both in Fiesta Bowls, both occasions for Notre Dame to wind up drubbed.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2022
Hetty drubbed with her little foot, and looked at the young man sitting before her—strong, idle, melancholy.
From The Virginians by Thackeray, William Makepeace
The building exterior has taken an almost universal drubbing; it looks like a refrigerator that dropped off the Death Star.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Reduced to 40 percent of seats after a drubbing in the 2024 general election, Nelson Mandela's former liberation movement has been forced into an often-uneasy coalition with nine other parties.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
Grant did not avoid responsibility for the drubbing he’d just taken.
From Slate ● Apr. 13, 2026
The defending NBA champions are 3-0 against the Lakers this season, including a 43-point drubbing last week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
I would have to seek advice from Harry, although my estimation of him as a counselor in affairs of the heart had received a substantial drubbing at the hands of the wretched Miss Minerva Goodacre.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
