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

A day later Cardiff Rugby academy players found the tub while doing volunteering work, and handed it to park officials.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 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

If you don’t have the room, then perhaps you should just have a shower without the tub.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

I bought a tub of amatriciana, flecked with visible hunks of guanciale and red pepper flakes, and a box of rigatoni.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

To the left is the small bathroom; with the light shining on it, we can see that the tub and tiles are all powder blue.

From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone

It has tubs of brown butter, frozen flat or portioned into little pucks, ready to make a weeknight bowl of noodles taste as if someone planned better than you did.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

"It's never going to be here again, so I thought it was important to get an ice cream, and stock up with the tubs as well," she said.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

“Hot tubs can be a source of Legionella growth and transmission when they are inadequately maintained and operated,” the CDC said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

In one popular video, Heidecker and Wareheim chatted about ice cubes and hot tubs with Zach Galifianakis in a video for Absolut Vodka.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

“Mother,” Judy said, bringing me back to the world of scrubbing tubs and toilets, “is it okay if I move into David’s room?”

From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine

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

"They all look so jolly well tubbed, don't they?" he remarked, straying from the subject in hand.

From Captain Jim by Bruce, Mary Grant

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 Terry, Ellen

With other linen we are tubbed, With other linen often tangled; In open court we then are scrubbed, And mangled.

From A line-o'-verse or two by Taylor, Bert Leston

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

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

All this, however, is a digression from the freshman whom we have seen safely through his tubbing troubles, and have selected for a Lent Boat.

From Rowing by Lehmann, Rudolf Chambers

Gingold was tubbing yesterday and Fitzroy was coaching.

From Sinister Street, vol. 2 by MacKenzie, Compton

The great difficulty was to cause the tubbing to descend vertically, and also to overcome the enormous lateral pressure exerted upon it by the earth that was being traversed.

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

However, she made no fetish of tubbing herself once a day, and thought on to more important considerations.

From Clark's Field by Herrick, Robert