Scrub \Scrub\, a. Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby.

How solitary, how scrub, does this town look! --Walpole.

No little scrub joint shall come on my board. --Swift.

Scrub game, a game, as of ball, by unpracticed players.

Scrub race, a race between scrubs, or between untrained animals or contestants.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Scrub \Scrub\, 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Scrub \Scrub\, n.

1. One who labors hard and lives meanly; a mean fellow. ``A sorry scrub.'' --Bunyan.

We should go there in as proper a manner possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us. --Goldsmith.

2. Something small and mean.

3. A worn-out brush. --Ainsworth.

4. A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant; as, oak scrub, palmetto scrub, etc.

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.]

Scrub bird (Zo["o]l.), an Australian passerine bird of the family Atrichornithid[ae], 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 (Q. Catesb[ae]i); that of the Rocky Mountain region is Q. undulata, var. Gambelii.

Scrub robin (Zo["o]l.), an Australian singing bird of the genus Drymodes.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

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. sckrubbe, 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Scrub \Scrub\, n.

1. Vegetation of inferior quality, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush. See Brush, above.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)