Category:Scrub

Scrub, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scrubbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Scrubbing.] Etym: [oe. scrobben, probably of dutch or scand. origin; cf. Dan. Sckrubbe, sw. skrubba, d. schrobben, lg. schrubben.]

Defn: to rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet Brush, or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of cleaning Or brightening; as, to scrub a floor, a doorplate.

Scrub Scrub, v. i.

Defn: to rub anything hard, especially with a wet brush; to scour; Hence, to be diligent and penurious; as, to scrub hard for a living.

Scrub Scrub, n.

1. One who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow. "a sorry Scrub." Bunyan. We should go there in as proper a manner possible; nor altogether Like the scrubs about us. Goldsmith.

2. Something small and mean.

3. A worn-out brush. Ainsworth.

4. A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing Plant; as, oak scrub, palmetto scrub, etc.

5. (stock breeding)

Defn: one of the commen live stock of a region of no particular breed Or not of pure breed, esp. when inferior in size, etc. [u.s.] Scrub Bird (zoöl.), an australian passerine bird of the family Atrichornithidæ, as atrichia clamosa; -- called also brush bird. -- scrub oak (bot.), the popular name of several dwarfish species of Oak. The scrub oak of new england and the middle states is quercus Ilicifolia, a scraggy shrub; that of the southern states is a small Tree (q. Catesbæi); that of the rocky mountain region is q. undulata, Var. Gambelii. -- scrub robin (zoöl.), an australian singing bird of the genus Drymodes.

Scrub Scrub, a.

Defn: mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby. How solitary, how scrub, does this town lokk! Walpole. No little scrub joint shall come on my board. Swift. Scrub game, a game, as of ball, by unpracticed players. -- scrub race, a race between scrubs, or between untrained animals Or contestants.