tub

American  

[tuhb] / tʌb /

noun

• tubs
  plural

1. a bathtub.

2. a broad, round, open, wooden container, usually made of staves held together by hoops and fitted around a flat bottom.

3. any of various containers resembling or suggesting a tub.

   a tub for washing clothes.

4. the amount a tub will hold.

5. Informal. a short and fat person.

6. Nautical. an old, slow, or clumsy vessel.

7. British Informal. a bath in a bathtub.

8. Mining. an ore car; tram.

9. Military Slang. a two-seat aircraft, especially a trainer.

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verb (used with object)

tubbed, tubbing

1. to place or keep in a tub.

2. British Informal. to bathe in a bathtub.

verb (used without object)

tubbed, tubbing

1. British Informal. to bathe oneself in a bathtub.

2. Informal. to undergo washing, especially without damage, as a fabric.

   This cotton print tubs well.

tub British  

/ tʌb /

noun

1. a low wide open container, typically round, originally one made of wood and used esp for washing: now made of wood, plastic, metal, etc, and used in a variety of domestic and industrial situations

2. a small plastic or cardboard container of similar shape for ice cream, margarine, etc

3. Also called: bathtub.  another word (esp US and Canadian) for bath 1

4. Also called: tubful.  the amount a tub will hold

5. a clumsy slow boat or ship

6. informal (in rowing) a heavy wide boat used for training novice oarsmen

7. Also called: tram.   hutch. 

   1. a small vehicle on rails for carrying loads in a mine

   2. a container for lifting coal or ore up a mine shaft; skip

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verb

1. informal to wash (oneself or another) in a tub

2. (tr) to keep or put in a tub

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tubber
  noun
• undertub
  noun
• tubbable
  adjective
• tublike
  adjective
• untubbed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tubs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tub

1350–1400; Middle English tubbe (noun) < Middle Dutch tobbe; cognate with Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe

Explanation

A tub is a wide, open container. You might have a tub of butter in your fridge, but if your mom tells you to hop in the tub, stay out of the kitchen. She means it's time for a bath. Tub is an informal word for bathtub, the fixture in your bathroom that can be filled with water and bathed in. Other tubs are containers used to hold liquid or other materials — think of a tub of margarine or a tub of ice cream. In the 17th century, tub was slang for "pulpit" or "lectern," and a tub thumper was an overly enthusiastic orator or preacher.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tub tubs tubbed tubbing

The DJ was silhouetted by a large window display of a gigantic, human-sized plastic re-creation of Raising Cane’s chicken tenders and crinkle-cut fries being dipped into a tub of Cane’s Sauce.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

The primary suite boasts a glass wall and a Zen-inspired bathroom with a wet room that includes a shower and a soaking tub.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

A red cartoon hunk of steak, a bronzed turkey, a few shrimp, a tub of unsweetened yogurt, an apple and a bag of frozen peas cascade alongside him.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

I added a private hot tub and an Eight Sleep Pod, which is a really fancy mattress topper that heats and cools your mattress.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

There was a poodle serving him Frosty Paws ice cream from a paper tub.

From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein

Now found in tubs and bags on many supermarket shelves and tagged in your social feeds, it is the supplement of choice for millions of people and one of the most scientifically researched.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The bathrooms boast large soaking tubs and chic vanities.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

But these tubs have super-thin edges, for effect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Even yogurt containers and margarine tubs — made of ubiquitous polypropylene, or #5 plastic — are being recycled at a rate of only 2% in the state, the report said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

“Ay, wanna hang out with your daddy? I’ll get you some ice cream. One of them big fat tubs that’ll last ’bout a month.”

From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

Then I turned the corner: Freezers lined with beautiful tubbed sauces and pastas.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

They generally admired Romney's pink-cheeked Willett Children for seeming recently tubbed and scrubbed yet true-to-life.

From Time Magazine Archive

I brought up by one of the tubbed box-trees and peered in at the Pillar House with a new wonder.

From The Best Short Stories of 1917 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by Edward J. (Edward Joseph Harrington) O'Brien

Every evening at six o'clock he goes down to the river, and is probably tubbed in a gig-pair before rowing down the Datchet reach in the Eight.

From Rowing by Rudolf Chambers Lehmann

The day I left home to be married, I "tubbed" all my little brothers and sisters and washed their fair hair.

From The Story of My Life Recollections and Reflections by Ellen Terry

He then takes her to a winter wonderland for some light luging and hot tubbing.

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

He was persuaded that the coarse gravel remaining in the side of the shaft would greatly retard the descent of the tubbing.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885 by Various

The whole weight of the tubbing is made to bear on the moss, which squeezes outwards, forming a completely water-tight joint.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various

With these ideas he becomes as a freshman a member of his college boat club, and adds his name to the "tubbing list."

From Rowing by Rudolf Chambers Lehmann

Thus, more and more Ruth turned to the mongrel dog who bore the name of Rollo unflinchingly—the dog that adored her openly, shamelessly, who now without a whimper took his diurnal tubbing.

From The Ragged Edge by Harold MacGrath