drub

[druhb]

See more synonyms for drub on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), drubbed, drub·bing.

to beat with a stick or the like; cudgel; flog; thrash.
to defeat decisively, as in a game or contest.
to drive as if by flogging: Latin grammar was drubbed into their heads.

to stamp (the feet).

noun

a blow with a stick or the like.

Origin of drub

1625–35; perhaps by uncertain mediation < Arabic ḍarb blow, beating

Related formsdrub·ber, nounun·drubbed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for drub

trounce, spank, clobber, wallop, cane, hit, beat, lash, pound, defeat, strike, tan, flog, whip

Examples from the Web for drub

Historical Examples of drub

At rehearsal he used frequently to drub his former mistress.
Nana, The Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille
Emile Zola
He has to drub along all day, day in and day out, sternly, and be President of all of us.
The Ghost in the White House
Gerald Stanley Lee
And as for the men, what could they think, when the preacher could drub any six of them?
The Maid of Sker
Richard Doddridge Blackmore
Laura began to drub on the drawing-room window and nod and laugh from it.
The History of Pendennis
William Makepeace Thackeray
Drub says that the actors left out "a considerable load of Obscenity and Prophaness."
Three Hours after Marriage
John Gay

British Dictionary definitions for drub

drub

verb drubs, drubbing or drubbed (tr)

to beat as with a stick; cudgel; club
to defeat utterly, as in a contest
to drum or stamp (the feet)
to instil with force or repetitionthe master drubbed Latin into the boys

noun

a blow, as from a stick

Word Origin for drub

C17: probably from Arabic dáraba to beat

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for drub

1630s (in an Oriental travel narrative), probably from Arabic darb "a beating," from daraba "he beat up" (see discussion in OED). Related: Drubbed; Drubbing.