grub

Meanings

Noun

• An immature stage in the life cycle of an insect; a larva.
• Food.
• A dirty person.
• A despicable person; a lowlife.
• A short, thick man; a dwarf.

Verb

• To scavenge or in some way scrounge, typically for food.
• To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; often followed by up.
• To supply with food.
• To eat.

Origin

• From hypothetical Old English *grubbian, from Proto-Germanic *grubb- (compare Old High German grubilōn ("to dig, search"), German grübeln ("to meditate, ponder")), from Proto-Germanic *grub- ("to dig"). The noun sense of "larva" (c. 1400) may derive from the notion of "digging insect" or from the possibly unrelated Middle English grub ("dwarfish fellow"). The slang sense of "food" is first recorded 1659, and has been linked with birds eating grubs or with bub."