tub

English

Etymology

From Middle English tubbe, tobbe, from Middle Dutch tubbe or Middle Low German tubbe, tobbe, further etymology unknown. Considered to be unrelated to tube.

Pronunciation

• enPR: tŭb, IPA^(key): /tʌb/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌb

Noun

tub (plural tubs)

1. A flat-bottomed vessel, of width similar to or greater than its height, used for storing or packing things, or for washing things in.

   He bought a tub of lard to roast the potatoes in.

2. The contents or capacity of such a vessel.

   She added a tub of margarine to the stew.

3. A bathtub.
   • 1920, Theodore Sharpe, My Place in the Shade: And Various Verse, page 27:

     Teach me to love my morning tub, / In waters cold to splash and rub; / O, grant my Turkish towel may flood / Its virtues through my soul and blood.

4. (nautical, informal) A slow-moving craft.
   • 2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 24:52 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned‎, archived from the original on 15 October 2022:

     But, with any ships in the Baltic Fleet that were worth sending - and some that probably weren't worth sending anyway - having already been dispatched, this gave him the perfect excuse to start rounding up old, obsolete vessels which had been rejected in the first place as being old tubs and designated by some of the less-kind officers as the "Sink-by-Themselves Squadron".

5. (humorous or derogatory) Any structure shaped like a tub, such as a certain old form of pulpit, a short broad boat, etc.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: J Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, , published 1727, →OCLC:

     All being took up and busied, some in pulpits and some in tubs, in the grand work of preaching and holding forth.

6. A small cask.

   a tub of gin

7. Any of various historically designated quantities of goods to be sold by the tub (butter, oysters, etc).
8. (mining) A box or bucket in which coal or ore is sent up a shaft.
9. (obsolete) A sweating in a tub; a tub fast.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     tubs and baths; bring down rose-cheeked youth
     To the tub-fast and the diet

10. (slang) A corpulent or obese person.
    • 2003, Trey Ellis, Platitudes: & the New Black Aesthetic, page 139:

      Donald tells him to be more realistic. Take those two girls over there, for example. One's a zitface and the other's a tub, so they'd be perfect for them.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tub (third-person singular simple present tubs, present participle tubbing, simple past and past participle tubbed)

1. (transitive) To plant, set, or store in a tub.

   to tub a plant

2. (transitive, intransitive) To bathe in a tub.
   • February 1, 1873, Meredith Townsend and Richard Holt Hutton (editors), "Change of Air and Scene", in The Spectator

     Don't we all "tub" in England?

References

Further reading

• tub on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• BTU, TBU, but, but-

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian)
• Rhymes: -up

Noun

tub m (plural tubs)

1. tube

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “tub” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “tub” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “tub”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “tub” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Green Hmong

Etymology

From Vietnamese tử, from Middle Chinese 子 (t͡sɨ^X, “son, child”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu˥/

Noun

tub

1. son
2. child
3. (slang) kid

Juba Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic طُوبَة (ṭūba).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtub/,

Noun

tub

1. brick

References

• Ian Smith, Morris Timothy Ama (1985) A Dictionary of Juba Arabic & English‎, 1st edition, Juba: The Committee of The Juba Cheshire Home and Centre for Handicapped Children, page 25

Kavalan

Noun

tub

1. lid

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tube, Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

tub n (plural tuburi)

1. tube

   Synonym: țeavă

Declension

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:

tub

Wikipedia ^sv

Noun

tub c

1. a tube (container)

   tandkrämstub ― tube of toothpaste

2. a cylinder (container)

   gastub ― gas cylinder

3. a spotting scope

   Synonym: tubkikare

Declension

References

• tub in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• tub in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• tub in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

White Hmong

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tu̯ɛn (“son, boy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu˥/

Noun

tub

1. son
2. child
3. (slang) kid

References

• Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎, SEAP Publications, →ISBN.