Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

pub

1 American  
[puhb] / pʌb /

noun

  1. a bar or tavern.

pub. 2 American  

abbreviation

  1. public.

  2. publication.

  3. published.

  4. publisher.

  5. publishing.

pub. 1 British  

abbreviation

  1. public

  2. publication

  3. published

  4. publisher

  5. publishing

"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
pub 2 British  
/ pʌb /

noun

  1. 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

  2. a hotel

"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

verb

  1. informal (intr) to visit a pub or pubs (esp in the phrase go pubbing )

"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

Etymology

Origin of pub

First recorded in 1855–60; short for public house

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.

He then moved to Devon and "kept his hand in playing on the local pub scene", before he retired from music and came back to Leicester.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

Anne Marie, a beauty and complementary therapist with her own successful business, was at a pub in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, with her cousins on the night of the incident.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

It was in this cosy South Lanarkshire pub on the morning of 26 March 2006 that he officially launched the smoking ban.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

A pub owned by his family - the Maltman on Glasgow's Renfield Street - was one of the first in the UK to have a non-smoking bar.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

“Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?” said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" 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.