drub

[ druhb ]

/ drʌb /

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.

Nearby words

drownproofing, drowse, drowsihead, drowsiness, drowsy, drub, drubbing, drucilla, drudge, drudgery, drudgework

Origin of drub

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

Related forms

drub·ber, nounun·drubbed, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for drub

Did ever any Tradesmen succeed, who attempted to drub Customers into his Shop?
Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume II (of 2)|Wiliam Cabell Bruce
On the other hand, we extend the meaning of drub, the Arabic word for bastinado, to a beating of any kind.
The Romance of Words (4th ed.)|Ernest Weekley
A hundred years ago it was the critic's pleasure to drub authors with cruel and unnecessary vigour.
Plum Pudding|Christopher Morley
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

British Dictionary definitions for drub

drub

/ (drʌb) /

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