grub
1 of 2verb
ˈgrəb 
grubbed; grubbing
transitive verb
1
: to clear by digging up roots and stumps
2
: to dig up by or as if by the roots
intransitive verb
1
a
: to dig in the ground especially for something that is difficult to find or extract
b
: to search about
grubbed in the countryside for food 
Lamp
Lamp2
: toil, drudge
grubbing along at newspaper jobs Walter Kirn
Walter Kirn grubber noun
grub
2 of 2noun
1
: a soft thick wormlike larva of an insect (such as a beetle)
2
a
: one who does menial work : drudge
b
: a slovenly person
3
: food
Synonyms
Verb
- bang away
- beaver (away)
- dig (away)
- drudge
- endeavor
- fag
- hump
- hustle
- labor
- moil
- peg (away)
- plod
- plow
- plug
- slave
- slog
- strain
- strive
- struggle
- sweat
- toil
- travail
- tug
- work
Noun
- bread
- chow
- chuck [chiefly West]
- comestibles
- eatables
- eats
- edibles
- fare
- food
- foodstuffs
- meat
- provender
- provisions
- table
- tucker [chiefly Australian]
- viands
- victuals
- vittles
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Verb Everyone was grubbing for whatever food they could find. students grubbing for better grades Noun Let's go get some grub. after the game, we headed to the diner for some hearty grub
Recent Examples on the Web Robert Hackett, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2020 In its prickliness and insistence on the messiness and ineluctable pain of life, this is very different from the pandering, gold-grubbing titles that tend to hit theaters starting around now. Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2019 Get our daily newsletter China’s freewheeling internet users hand plenty of precious information over to the country’s data-grubbing apps. The Economist, 7 Sep. 2019 Sonny’s Everyman tale revives the hope that cinema might still be a popular art form, even as the movie year heads into its ugliest, platitudinous, awards-grubbing phase. Armond White, National Review, 6 Sep. 2019 Enter Maximus Worthington, a money-grubbing real estate tycoon danced by CTT artistic director and lead choreographer Mark Yonally, who promises big profits for DRC by using a trickle-down model. Lauren Warnecke, chicagotribune.com, 9 June 2019 In an interview with People, the 48-year-old opened up about her go-to grub. Jennifer Aldrich, Country Living, 3 May 2019 The amateur hunters and the independent and commercial hunters aren’t all venal, money-grubbing opportunists. Rachel Becker, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2018 Eleven-year-old Nan works with a gang of other kids her age, and younger, as a chimney sweep for a money-grubbing sadist named Wilkie Crudd. Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 20 Sep. 2018 Chandra Fleming, Detroit Free Press, 17 Aug. 2022 The beetle has a one-year life cycle but spends most of its life in the soil as a grub. Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 16 July 2022 This brewpub has 19 beers on tap and serves a host of burgers, sandwiches and other pub grub. Chris Santella, Washington Post, 30 June 2022 And reflecting West Valley City’s rich and diverse food scene, 26 food vendors featured grub from all over the world along with American classics. Alixel Cabrera, The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 June 2022 And there might be ambitious others from the Pac-12 on the grub, too. Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 July 2022 Wine-driven, the place may be — the walls are stacked with bottles — but don’t discount the grub. Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 30 June 2022 As long as the grub and grog kept comin’, and as long as everyone had a few turns gripping and ripping. Michael Mcknight, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2022 Camaraderie was built over sharing a cold brew and some grub in a communal space, and the often beer-only bars soon fell into a category of their own. Megha Mcswain, Chron, 8 June 2022 See More
Verb
No henchmen of adversarial intelligence services or money-grubbing fraudsters are going to abide by such a magnanimous international accord—even if governments or corporations pay it lip service. Robert Hackett, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2020 In its prickliness and insistence on the messiness and ineluctable pain of life, this is very different from the pandering, gold-grubbing titles that tend to hit theaters starting around now. Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2019 Get our daily newsletter China’s freewheeling internet users hand plenty of precious information over to the country’s data-grubbing apps. The Economist, 7 Sep. 2019 Sonny’s Everyman tale revives the hope that cinema might still be a popular art form, even as the movie year heads into its ugliest, platitudinous, awards-grubbing phase. Armond White, National Review, 6 Sep. 2019 Enter Maximus Worthington, a money-grubbing real estate tycoon danced by CTT artistic director and lead choreographer Mark Yonally, who promises big profits for DRC by using a trickle-down model. Lauren Warnecke, chicagotribune.com, 9 June 2019 In an interview with People, the 48-year-old opened up about her go-to grub. Jennifer Aldrich, Country Living, 3 May 2019 The amateur hunters and the independent and commercial hunters aren’t all venal, money-grubbing opportunists. Rachel Becker, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2018 Eleven-year-old Nan works with a gang of other kids her age, and younger, as a chimney sweep for a money-grubbing sadist named Wilkie Crudd. Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 20 Sep. 2018 Noun
Pit Stop Alley allows for attendees to get their grub on with a range of food trucks. Chandra Fleming, Detroit Free Press, 17 Aug. 2022 The beetle has a one-year life cycle but spends most of its life in the soil as a grub. Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 16 July 2022 This brewpub has 19 beers on tap and serves a host of burgers, sandwiches and other pub grub. Chris Santella, Washington Post, 30 June 2022 And reflecting West Valley City’s rich and diverse food scene, 26 food vendors featured grub from all over the world along with American classics. Alixel Cabrera, The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 June 2022 And there might be ambitious others from the Pac-12 on the grub, too. Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 July 2022 Wine-driven, the place may be — the walls are stacked with bottles — but don’t discount the grub. Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 30 June 2022 As long as the grub and grog kept comin’, and as long as everyone had a few turns gripping and ripping. Michael Mcknight, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2022 Camaraderie was built over sharing a cold brew and some grub in a communal space, and the often beer-only bars soon fell into a category of their own. Megha Mcswain, Chron, 8 June 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English grubben; akin to Old English grafan to dig — more at grave
Noun
Middle English grubbe, from grubben
First Known Use
Verb
14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Noun
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing grub
Kids Definition
grub 1 of 2
verb
ˈgrəb
grubbed; grubbing
1
: to find by digging
grub for roots
2
: to work hard
grub
2 of 2noun
1
: a soft thick wormlike larva (as of a beetle)
2
: food sense 1
Medical Definition
grub
noun
ˈgrəb
: a soft thick wormlike larva of an insect
grubber
noun
as in laborer
a person who does very hard or dull work most of the inhabitants of the seedy town are just downtrodden grubbers living from paycheck to paycheck Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- laborer
- plugger
- worker
- toiler
- slogger
- peon
- slave
- dogsbody
- foot soldier
- grub
- grunt
- drone
- drudge
- serf
- drudger
- workhorse
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- shirker
- idler
- loafer
- goldbrick
- sluggard
- slug
- slouch
- lazybones