grub

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable) An insect at an immature stage of its life cycle.
2. (slang, uncountable) Food.
3. (Australia, countable, slang, uncountable) A dirty person.
4. (Australia, countable, slang, uncountable) A despicable person; a lowlife.
5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A short, thick man; a dwarf.

Verb

1. To scavenge or in some way scrounge, typically for food.
2. (ambitransitive) To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; often followed by up.
3. (dated, slang, transitive) To supply with food.
4. (dated, slang) To eat.

Synonyms

larva

maggot

caterpillar

🐛

dig

worm

🪱

drudge

feed

spade

chuck

excavate

eats

dig up

bum

eradicate

cadge

dirty creature

rummage

root

weevil

food

🍽️

fare

sponge

🧽

mooch

chow

larvae

poke

toil

dig out

chop

diet

chase

breakdown

depress

demolish

delve

defeat

carve

beetle

🪲

appease

cutworm

exhaust

cut off

calm

enfeeble

extirpate

creepy-crawly

enervate

embryo

general term

cover

Translations

larve

larva

larve

larva

Larve

larva

bruco

gusano

🪱

opduikelen

rooien

Raupe

🐛

verme

🪱

opgraven

Made

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡɹʌb/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: grubben

Inherited from Old English: *grubbian

Cognate with Middle Dutch: grobben

Cognate with Old High German: grubilōn

Cognate with German: grübeln

Inherited from Middle English: grub

Cognate with Middle English: grub

Cognate with Western Frisian: krobbe

In summary

From Middle English grubben, grobben, from Old English *grubbian, from Proto-West Germanic *grubb-, from Proto-Germanic *grubb- (compare Middle Dutch grobben (“to scrape, scramble, grab”), Old High German grubilōn (“to dig, search”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”)), from Proto-Germanic *grub- (“to dig”) (see *grabaną).
The noun sense of "larva" is from Middle English grub, grubbe, grobbe, crubbe and may derive from the notion of "digging insect" from the verb above, or from the uncertainly related Middle English grub (“dwarfish fellow”). Compare West Frisian krobbe (“beetle”). The slang sense of "food" is first recorded 1659, and has been linked with birds eating grubs or with bub (“drink”).