Library / English Dictionary

GRUB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: grubbed    , grubbing   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A soft thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

larva (the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose)

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

maggot (the larva of the housefly and blowfly commonly found in decaying organic matter)

leatherjacket (tough-skinned larva of certain crane flies)

Derivation:

grubby (infested with grubs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Informal terms for a meal

Synonyms:

chow; chuck; eats; grub

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

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

fare (the food and drink that are regularly served or consumed)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Search about busily

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ask for and get free; be a parasite

Synonyms:

bum; cadge; grub; mooch; sponge

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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

obtain (come into possession of)

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

freeload (live off somebody's generosity)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

What gets me, Henry, is what a chap like this, that's a lord or something in his own country, and that's never had to bother about grub nor blankets; why he comes a-buttin' round the Godforsaken ends of the earth—that's what I can't exactly see.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

These men here shoot seals in order to live; for the same reason I sail this schooner; and Mr. Van Weyden, for the present at any rate, earns his salty grub by assisting me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

All the time does Yamikan eat, and all the time is there plenty more grub.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Fully half their grub supply was gone.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But merchants and traders are cowardly rulers at best; they grunt and grub all their days in the trough of money-getting, and I have swung back to aristocracy, if you please.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Of grub,” he concluded sententiously.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And then Yamikan, who is dead, comes back to us, and he is not dead, but very fat, and we know that he has slept warm and had plenty grub to eat.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

For, look you, they dream of making lucky voyages which will bring them more money, of becoming the mates of ships, of finding fortunes—in short, of being in a better position for preying on their fellows, of having all night in, good grub and somebody else to do the dirty work.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"He has lost der appetite. He do not like der grub."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The desires for the good grub and soft beds ashore which a handsome pay-day brings them—the women and the drink, the gorging and the beastliness which so truly expresses them, the best that is in them, their highest aspirations, their ideals, if you please.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)