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drub

[druhb]
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verb (used with object), drubbed, drub·bing.
  1. to beat with a stick or the like; cudgel; flog; thrash.
  2. to defeat decisively, as in a game or contest.
  3. to drive as if by flogging: Latin grammar was drubbed into their heads.
  4. to stamp (the feet).
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noun
  1. a blow with a stick or the like.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for drub

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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."

British Dictionary definitions for drub

drub

verb drubs, drubbing or drubbed (tr)
  1. to beat as with a stick; cudgel; club
  2. to defeat utterly, as in a contest
  3. to drum or stamp (the feet)
  4. to instil with force or repetitionthe master drubbed Latin into the boys
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noun
  1. a blow, as from a stick
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Word Origin

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

v.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper