scrub

Word Origin & History

"rub hard," early 15c., earlier shrubben (c.1300), perhaps from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German schrubben "to scrub," or from an unrecorded Old English cognate, or from a Scandinavian source (cf. Danish skrubbe "to scrub"), probably ultimately from the Proto-Germanic root of shrub, used as a cleaning tool (cf. the evolution of broom, brush (n.1)).

Meaning "to cancel" is attested from 1828 (popularized during World War II with reference to flights), probably from notion of "to rub out, erase" an entry on a listing. Related: Scrubbed; scrubbing.

Example Sentences for scrub

Ponds in the scrub could not easily be identified as channels.

And what boldness is this for a scrub of a servant to speak in such a way before her master?

I've had to let the fire go down here, an' scrub till I could ha' cried.

Besides, she had tried to scrub his favorite violin with sapolio.

I did not get into a single game, I was only used on the "scrub" in our practice.

So mean-looking an individual was this guest that he had been nicknamed "The Scrub."

Choose nice potatoes, not too large, and scrub them perfectly clean.

There were no trees, except a grove of scrub pine perhaps a mile away.

But not as a son this time, only as a servant, to scour and scrub to the end of his life.

A mile from Eastboro, and he was alone in a grove of scrub pines.

scrub

discontinue

discontinuing

drop

dropping

edit

edited

editing

eradicate

scrub

More words related to scrub