scrub

[skruhb]

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verb (used with object), scrubbed, scrub·bing.

to rub hard with a brush, cloth, etc., or against a rough surface in washing.

to subject to friction; rub.

to remove (dirt, grime, etc.) from something by hard rubbing while washing.

Chemistry. to remove (impurities or undesirable components) from a gas by chemical means, as sulfur dioxide from smokestack gas or carbon dioxide from exhaled air in life-support packs.

to cancel or postpone (a space flight or part of a mission): Ground control scrubbed the spacewalk.

Slang. to do away with; cancel: Scrub your vacation plans—there's work to do!

verb (used without object), scrubbed, scrub·bing.

to cleanse something by hard rubbing.

to cleanse one's hands and arms as a preparation to performing or assisting in surgery (often followed by up).

noun

an act or instance of scrubbing.

a canceled or postponed space flight, launching, scheduled part of a space mission, etc.

something, as a cosmetic preparation, used for scrubbing.

Origin of scrub

1300–50; Middle English scrobben (noun) < Middle Dutch schrobben

Related formsscrub·ba·ble, adjectivenon·scrub·ba·ble, adjective

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

Related Words for scrubbing

washing, wash, scrub, cleaning, cleansing

Examples from the Web for scrubbing

Contemporary Examples of scrubbing

She works as a maid, scrubbing floors and toilets of the well-to-do families in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Breaking Mount Everest’s Glass Ceiling
Amanda Padoan, Peter Zuckerman
March 30, 2014
First-generation girls were scrubbing floors and helping out.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview
Alex Belth
February 16, 2014
Now she found herself cooking for eight men and scrubbing the toilet aboard a small boat with no hot water.
Chris Matthews on the Buckley Mystique
Chris Matthews
May 3, 2009
Then the woman in charge of scrubbing the federal budget apparently not scrubbing her own taxes.
What Really Did Tom Daschle In
Mark McKinnon
February 3, 2009

Historical Examples of scrubbing

Pop was putting away the dishes, and Jud was scrubbing out the sink.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
Bill was scrubbing the porch, and a farmhand was gathering bottles from the grass into a box.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Even when fresh from a scrubbing, his hands were not entirely clean.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
Pansy Murphy was scrubbing out the office when he came down for breakfast.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
The grime was perpetually renewed; scrubbing only ground it in.
Alice Adams
Booth Tarkington

British Dictionary definitions for scrubbing

scrub

verb scrubs, scrubbing or scrubbed

to rub (a surface) hard, with or as if with a brush, soap, and water, in order to clean it

to remove (dirt), esp by rubbing with a brush and water

(intr foll by up) (of a surgeon) to wash the hands and arms thoroughly before operating

(tr) to purify (a vapour or gas) by removing impurities

(tr) informal to delete or cancel

(intr) horse racing slang (of jockeys) to urge a horse forwards by moving the arms and whip rhythmically forwards and backwards alongside its neck

noun

the act of or an instance of scrubbing

Word Origin for scrub

C14: from Middle Low German schrubben, or Middle Dutch schrobben

scrub

noun

vegetation consisting of stunted trees, bushes, and other plants growing in an arid area
(as modifier)scrub vegetation

an area of arid land covered with such vegetation

an animal of inferior breeding or condition
(as modifier)a scrub bull

a small or insignificant person

anything stunted or inferior

sport, US and Canadian a player not in the first team

the scrub Australian informal a remote place, esp one where contact with people can be avoided

adjective

small, stunted, or inferior

sport, US and Canadian

(of a player) not in the first team
(of a team) composed of such players
(of a contest) between scratch or incomplete teams

Word Origin for scrub

C16: variation of shrub 1

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 scrubbing

scrub

"rub hard," early 15c., earlier shrubben (c.1300), perhaps from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German schrubben "to scrub," or from an unrecorded Old English cognate, or from a Scandinavian source (cf. Danish skrubbe "to scrub"), probably ultimately from the Proto-Germanic root of shrub, used as a cleaning tool (cf. the evolution of broom, brush (n.1)).

Meaning "to cancel" is attested from 1828 (popularized during World War II with reference to flights), probably from notion of "to rub out, erase" an entry on a listing. Related: Scrubbed; scrubbing.

scrub

n.1

late 14c., "low, stunted tree," variant of shrobbe (see shrub), perhaps influenced by a Scandinavian word (cf. Danish dialectal skrub "a stunted tree, brushwood"). Collective sense "brush, shrubs" is attested from 1805. As an adjective from 1710. Scrub oak recorded from 1766.

Transferred sense of "mean, insignificant fellow" is from 1580s; U.S. sports meaning "athlete not on the varsity team" is recorded from 1892, probably from this, but cf. scrub "hard-working servant, drudge" (1709), perhaps from influence of scrub (v.).

scrub

n.2

"act of scrubbing," 1620s, from scrub (v.). Meaning "thing that is used in scrubbing" is from 1680s.