Library / English Dictionary

SCRUB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: scrubbed    , scrubbing   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water

Synonyms:

scouring; scrub; scrubbing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("scrub" is a kind of...):

cleaning; cleansing; cleanup (the act of making something clean)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scrub"):

mopping; swabbing (cleaning with a mop)

Derivation:

scrub (wash thoroughly)

scrub (clean with hard rubbing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes

Synonyms:

bush; chaparral; scrub

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("scrub" is a kind of...):

botany; flora; vegetation (all the plant life in a particular region or period)

Derivation:

scrubby (sparsely covered with stunted trees or vegetation and underbrush)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of domestic animals) not selectively bred

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

unimproved (not made more desirable or valuable or profitable; especially not made ready for use or marketing)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wash thoroughly

Example:

surgeons must scrub prior to an operation

Synonyms:

scrub; scrub up

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "scrub" is one way to...):

lave; wash (cleanse (one's body) with soap and water)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

scrub (the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Clean with hard rubbing

Example:

She scrubbed his back

Synonyms:

scour; scrub

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "scrub" is one way to...):

rub (move over something with pressure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scrub"):

holystone (scrub with a holystone)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The chefs scrub the vegetables

Derivation:

scrub (the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water)

scrubber (a brush with short stiff bristles for heavy cleaning)

scrubber (a worker who uses a scrub brush to clean a surface (usually a floor or deck))

scrubbing (the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and soap and water)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled

Example:

scratch that meeting--the chair is ill

Synonyms:

call off; cancel; scratch; scrub

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

"Scrub" entails doing...:

schedule (make a schedule; plan the time and place for events)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Out of the tangled scrub on the old overgrown barrow two human faces were looking out at him; the sinking sun glimmered full upon them, showing up every line and feature.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Three women were got to help; and such scrubbing, such brushing, such washing of paint and beating of carpets, such taking down and putting up of pictures, such polishing of mirrors and lustres, such lighting of fires in bedrooms, such airing of sheets and feather-beds on hearths, I never beheld, either before or since.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He held up his hand, rubbing the ball of the thumb over the calloused palm and gazing at the dirt that was ingrained in the flesh itself and which no brush could scrub away.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Just now it's the fashion to be hideous, to make your head look like a scrubbing brush, wear a strait jacket, orange gloves, and clumping square-toed boots.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He dodged in and out through the thickest of the scrub until he came to a dense clump of brush-wood.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was spared the trouble of answering, for Bessie seemed in too great a hurry to listen to explanations; she hauled me to the washstand, inflicted a merciless, but happily brief scrub on my face and hands with soap, water, and a coarse towel; disciplined my head with a bristly brush, denuded me of my pinafore, and then hurrying me to the top of the stairs, bid me go down directly, as I was wanted in the breakfast-room.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A poor woman came in with a pail and a mop, and asked Mr. Cutter if he would let her do some scrubbing for a bit of fish, because she hadn't any dinner for her children, and had been disappointed of a day's work.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)