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

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Etymology

Origin of tub

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

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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

Be generous with napkins, too, and pro tip: tuck a bus tub — which you can buy online or from a restaurant supply store — somewhere discreet for used dishes.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

Outside, the property offers an array of recreational features, including a swimming pool and a hot tub large enough to accommodate 10 people.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

“A walk to the Grove, a movie over a shared tub of popcorn, and a stop at the Kibitz Room on the way home.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Alan Dorfman held an Etch A Sketch over a laundry tub, picked up a hacksaw and sawed the device in half, spilling silver powder everywhere.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

I took off my white ankle socks and placed my feet on the side of the cold metal tub while I washed them too.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce

These companies saw hundreds of customers queueing to create their own dessert pot, despite it not being a particularly cheap treat, with tubs costing as much as £12.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Pedestrians in plastic rain ponchos waded through murky, knee-deep water in the Thai capital, some venturing into a supermarket while others floated their belongings in plastic tubs.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

I set up my cutting board at the bar in front of the television, clean and chop everything, then stash it in labeled deli tubs.

From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026

The center’s two 50-meter pools and an adjacent therapy pool will be closed, along with two expansive hot tubs, the people said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

He made me drag the zinc tubs full of watered-down rose blankets into the shed room by the back porch.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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

Then he tubbed and dressed, and had a comfortable breakfast all by himself; for he was too experienced a traveller by this to let melancholy partings spoil his appetite.

From For Fortune and Glory A Story of the Soudan War by Walter Paget

Then he tubbed, and continued this game of follow-the-leader throughout the entire toilette, affably talking all the while, until Dale emerged a different looking, and a much more gratified, man.

From Sunlight Patch by Credo Fitch Harris

Dismissing his servant the subaltern "tubbed" and dressed.

From Wilmshurst of the Frontier Force by Ernest Prater

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

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

The dressing-room of the barge is sacred to the members of the eight, who at the present season are engaged in tubbing the freshmen in the hope of finding a new oar or two.

From An American at Oxford by John Corbin

And thus their domesticity at McClintock's began—with the tubbing of a stray yellow dog.

From The Ragged Edge by Harold MacGrath

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

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

From Clark's Field by Robert Herrick

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