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

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

The pictures of a clearly uncomfortable Messi helping Sheila bathe her son in a blue plastic tub were published, then forgotten, until Yamal helped Spain win the 2024 European Championship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 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

I open the freezer and pull out a tub of Heath bar brownie ice cream.

From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins

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

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

Valerie and Hana are rushed into the tubs.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

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

But no: he stood before his dressing-table, tubbed, shaven, half-clothed, and looking as fresh as paint.

From Foe-Farrell by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

She came down a while later, tubbed and refreshed, in a dainty blue frock, with a black ribbon in her shining curls.

From Captain Jim by Bruce, Mary Grant

Goaded by time bulletins shouted through the closed door, Fanny found herself tubbed, clothed, and ready for breakfast by eight-ten.

From Fanny Herself by Ferber, Edna

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

From Time ● Jan. 14, 2014

The linen wears well, washes beautifully, and acquires a finer sheen with every tubbing.

From The Myrtle Reed Cook Book by Reed, Myrtle

After two yards of soil had been removed from beneath the edge of the tubbing, the earth began to give way.

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

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

From The Ragged Edge by MacGrath, Harold

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 Lehmann, Rudolf Chambers