SCRUB
What does "SCRUB" mean?
To clean something by rubbing hard, usually with a brush and water.
Meanings
- To rub hard with a brush or cloth to remove dirt. She scrubbed the pot until the burnt rice flaked away.
- To cancel or call off a planned event. Mission control scrubbed the launch when the storm rolled in. informal
- Low, stunted vegetation or the land covered by it. Kangaroos vanished into the dusty scrub at the road's edge.
- A loose cleansing preparation rubbed on the skin. He used a salt scrub to slough off the sunburn.
- A second-rate or insignificant person; a nobody. On the court he was no scrub - he ran the whole offense. informal
Did you know?
- TLC's 1999 hit 'No Scrubs' rode the word's slang sense - a freeloading nobody - all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Word origin
From Middle English 'scrobben', probably from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German 'schrobben' (to scrape, rub).
Remember it
SCRUB sounds like the brush at work: a short, hard 'scrub-scrub' against a stubborn pan.
A little poem
Knuckles raw and red,
the burnt black ring of last night
gives up, goes silver.
haiku
Wordplay
- The astronaut and the cleaner both 'scrubbed' the mission - one called it off, the other got it spotless.
What it teaches
Some stains only lift when you stop wishing them gone and put your whole arm into the work.
Quick facts
What does SCRUB mean?
To clean something by rubbing hard, usually with a brush and water.
Is SCRUB a valid word?
Yes — SCRUB is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SCRUB?
SCRUB has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SCRUB come from?
From Middle English 'scrobben', probably from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German 'schrobben' (to scrape, rub).
What can SCRUB teach us?
Some stains only lift when you stop wishing them gone and put your whole arm into the work.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.