pub
noun
a bar or tavern.
pub
1 American
[puhb]
/ pʌb /
noun
-
pubs
plural
pub.
2
American
abbreviation
-
public.
-
publication.
-
published.
-
publisher.
-
publishing.
pub.
1
British
abbreviation
-
public
-
publication
-
published
-
publisher
-
publishing
pub
2
British
/ pʌb /
noun
-
Formal name: public house. a building with a bar and one or more public rooms licensed for the sale and consumption of alcoholic drink, often also providing light meals
-
a hotel
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pub
First recorded in 1855–60; short for public house
Explanation
A pub is a bar or tavern that serves food and often acts as a community gathering place. People visit pubs to eat lunch, to drink beer, or to play darts with their friends. Pub is a shortened form of public house that dates from 1859. In the sixteenth century, a public house was first "any building open to the public," and then "an inn that sells food and drink." Today, the word pub is more or less synonymous with tavern — both are primarily places to drink beer, wine, or spirits, though a pub (especially in Great Britain) is seen as vital to its neighborhood, a cozy place to gather.
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:
Outside a pub in Clapham, a woman quietly laid flowers for 25-year-old Auguste-Marie Bile-aka Amoa, a bus driver, who was shot dead in in August.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
"Me and my wife went out on a Sunday at a pub in Durham just a few weeks back, and this guy came up out the blue and asked, 'Are you Ian Chandler?'" he laughs.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
After failing to get a license to sell wine, beer or spirits in the Belfast store, the retailer found an unorthodox solution: Apply for a pub license.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
So it decided to do something else: Apply for a pub license.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
It was another rainy evening in the twenty-first century, and by the time I reached the pub I was thankful just to be somewhere dry.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
“I was in a pub. You worked without agents then — just be in the pub — somebody said, ‘Yeah, he’s an actor,’ and you got a job.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
"We don't believe customers should have to hand over excessive personal information just to grab a pint at the pub. They're going for a drink, not applying for a mortgage."
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2021
“We’re not talking to our friends in the pub. We are public figures, and we have an additional obligation to be careful,” Wright told the BBC.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2018
He said, "Oh, I'll go down to the pub. I'll read the paper."
From The Verge ● Oct. 14, 2015
“Apparently, he’s in Oxford. He’s been to Malcolm’s father’s pub. Malcolm mentioned him the other day. One more thing: How will we contact one another? In the same way as before?”
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
"I'm really grateful for this opportunity and bringing it to Great Britain because I know people in pubs have had proper fights about who will win and family members have fallen out."
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
He manages nine pubs, and said venue owners across the city will be planning, getting beer in the cellar and food in the fridges.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
The administrators cited unforeseen costs around the security of closed Brewdog pubs after a number of "unauthorised occupiers" gained access.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
But the real magic of contemporary Lisdoonvarna lies in the town's overflowing streets and pubs - as Timby soon found out.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“It’s not that unusual, yeh get a lot o’ funny folk in the Hog’s Head — that’s one o’ the pubs down in the village.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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.
