shrub
/ˈʃɹʌb/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.19 in modern English
Meaning
noun
A liquor composed of vegetable acid, fruit juice (especially lemon), sugar, sometimes vinegar, and a small amount of spirit as a preservative. Modern shrub is usually non-alcoholic, but in earlier times it was often mixed with a substantial amount of spirit such as brandy or rum, thus making it a liqueur.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To mispronounce (a word or words) in another language in a manner that is influenced by one's mother tongue.
Slang
noun
A word mispronounced by replacing some consonant sounds with others of a similar place of articulation as influenced by one's mother tongue.
Slang
name
George W. Bush (born 1946), the 43rd president of the United States (2001–2009).
American usage; Derogatory
Example Sentences
- "No trees have grown on the windswept Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean for tens of thousands of years — just shrubs and other low-lying vegetation. That’s why a recent arboreal discovery nearly 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the ground caught researchers’ attention."
- "Tara flour is one of two products made from the seed pods of a thorny shrub native to Peru. One of those, tara gum, has been used safely for years as a thickening agent or stabilizer in human foods."
- "The Papistes[…]though they be woll shrubbed, and shred, yet they begin euen nowe before the springe, to budde."
- "The people who benefit from making fun of shrubbing, therefore, are Kenyans who do not speak indigenous languages, because they are less likely to shrub than Kenyans who learned English as a second language in school and may have a heavier accent."
- "However, Mwandani and her brother had noted that their mother had shrubbed and pointed it out right away."
- "It is still considered embarrassing if people in authority like teachers or newscasters “shrub.”"
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: First attested in the 2000s
Word Breakdown
- Root: schrub, *sċrob, ش ر ب, شِرَاب
Usage
- Obsolete
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Slang
- American usage
- Derogatory