[syn: cancel, call off, scratch, scrub]
ADJECTIVE (1)
1. (of domestic animals) not selectively bred;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scrub \Scrub\ (skr[u^]b), a.
Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby.
[1913 Webster]
How solitary, how scrub, does this town look!
--Walpole.
[1913 Webster]
No little scrub joint shall come on my board. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
Scrub game, a game, as of ball, by unpracticed players.
Scrub race, a race between scrubs, or between untrained
animals or contestants.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scrub \Scrub\ (skr[u^]b), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scrubbed
(skr[u^]bd); p. pr. & vb. n. Scrubbing.] [OE. scrobben,
probably of Dutch or Scand. origin; cf. Dan. skrubbe, Sw.
skrubba, D. schrobben, LG. schrubben.]
To rub hard; to wash with rubbing; usually, to rub with a wet
brush, or with something coarse or rough, for the purpose of
cleaning or brightening; as, to scrub a floor, a doorplate.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scrub \Scrub\ (skr[u^]b), v. i.
To rub anything hard, especially with a wet brush; to scour;
hence, to be diligent and penurious; as, to scrub hard for a
living.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scrub \Scrub\ (skr[u^]b), n.
1. One who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow. "A
sorry scrub." --Bunyan.
[1913 Webster]
We should go there in as proper a manner as
possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us.
--Goldsmith.
[1913 Webster]
2. Something small and mean.
[1913 Webster]
3. A worn-out brush. --Ainsworth.
[1913 Webster]
4. A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the
prevailing plant; as, oak scrub, palmetto scrub, etc.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Stock Breeding) One of the common live stock of a region
of no particular breed or not of pure breed, esp. when
inferior in size, etc. [U.S.]
[1913 Webster]
6. Vegetation of inferior quality, though sometimes thick and
impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also,
brush; -- called also scrub brush. See Brush, above.
[Australia & South Africa]
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
7. (Forestry) A low, straggling tree of inferior quality.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Scrub bird (Zool.), an Australian passerine bird of the
family Atrichornithidae, as Atrichia clamosa; --
called also brush bird.
Scrub oak (Bot.), the popular name of several dwarfish
species of oak. The scrub oak of New England and the
Middle States is Quercus ilicifolia, a scraggy shrub;
that of the Southern States is a small tree (Quercus
Catesbaei); that of the Rocky Mountain region is Quercus
undulata, var. Gambelii.
Scrub robin (Zool.), an Australian singing bird of the
genus Drymodes.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
scrub
adj 1: (of domestic animals) not selectively bred
n 1: dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes
[syn: scrub, chaparral, bush]
2: the act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush and
soap and water [syn: scrub, scrubbing, scouring]
v 1: clean with hard rubbing; "She scrubbed his back" [syn:
scrub, scour]
2: wash thoroughly; "surgeons must scrub prior to an operation"
[syn: scrub, scrub up]
3: postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled;
"Call off the engagement"; "cancel the dinner party"; "we had
to scrub our vacation plans"; "scratch that meeting--the
chair is ill" [syn: cancel, call off, scratch, scrub]