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

I complain about the time commitments and travel and I’m never going to be interested in the tub of lukewarm scrambled eggs at the tournament hotel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 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

“For the steel tub, a lot of times you’d have to cut it and use very specific tools,” he noted.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

The white sink, the commode, and the tub with the nickel-plated fixtures glowed in the pale moonlight.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

The Delafield Hotel is a charming boutique property with massive rooms, comfortable beds and bathrooms outfitted with Kohler rain showers and soaking hydrotherapy tubs.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 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

The bathrooms boast large soaking tubs and chic vanities.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Officially called a "temporary use ban" - meaning it only applies to domestic use of hosepipes for actions like filling paddling pools and hot tubs, washing cars and windows, and watering the garden.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

So not a soul except Mama saw me bring the zinc tubs out of the shed room.

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

So he wandered up-stairs into Mortimer's apartments, where he tubbed and dressed, and finally descended, to find Agatha Caithness alone in the library, spinning a roulette wheel and whistling an air from "La Bacchante."

From The Fighting Chance by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

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

From Captain Jim by Mary Grant Bruce

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

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

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

“Not much use tubbing if one has to walk a hundred yards after it,” he is saying.

From The Fire Trumpet A Romance of the Cape Frontier by Bertram Mitford

Upon this the tubbing is built up in segments, of which usually from 10 to 12 are required for the entire circumference, the edges being made perfectly true.

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

He had the habit of personal cleanliness, had Ben, in a day when tubbing was a ceremony and in an environment that made bodily nicety difficult.

From Half Portions by Edna Ferber

The interval between the back of the tubbing and the sides of the borehole is then filled up with concrete, which on setting fixes the tubbing firmly in position.

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