grubbern.
/ˈɡrʌbə/, U.S. /ˈɡrəbər/ 1. One who grubs, literal and figurative; a digger; a searcher among ruins and the like; a laborious worker.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > [noun] > digging > digger
delverc888
grubbera1400
diggerc1400
graver1483
spitter1648
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > [noun] > types of search or searching > grubbing > one who
grubbera1400
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > earth-movers, etc. > [noun] > digger or excavator
minera1300
grubbera1400
diggerc1400
spitter1648
groundsman1785
excavator1815
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > [noun] > person conducting
searchera1382
inseerc1438
intracer?a1475
inquisitor?1504
investigator1538
peruser1549
tracer1552
scrutineer1557
examinant1587
revisitor1594
examiner?1608
examinator1612
researcher1615
indagator1620
ferret1629
pryer1674
probator1691
disquisitor1766
grubber1776
prober1777
grubbler1813
detective1850
expiscator1882
a1400 St. Erkenwolde 41 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 267 Mony grubber in grete þe grounde for to seche.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 217/1 Grubbare in þe erthe, or oþer thynggys (H. grovblare, P. growblar), fossor, confossor, fossatrix.
1776 S. J. Pratt Pupil of Pleasure I. 33 Homespun soon discovered himself to be a grubber in books.
1825 W. Scott Let. 17 Sept. (1935) IX. 223 You are so capital a grubber that I have little doubt you will light upon it sooner or later.
1849 D. M. Mulock Ogilvies (1875) xxviii. 209 The hard-working grubbers in science.
1882 F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills Ded. 9 I, or some grubber of like kind.
1892 Daily News 26 May 3/1 It is time to see the grubbers at work. We reach ‘the face’—that is to say, the parts where the hewers and blasters of the rock are at work.
2. An implement for grubbing, breaking up ground, uprooting stumps or weeds, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > uprooting tool
meak1478
pease-meak1583
grubber1598
grub-axe1611
dog1727
pea-make1794
hop-dog1796
eradicator1807
stub-dig1837
stub-hoe1858
grub-hoea1884
grub-hook1884
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes A rake, a harrow, a grubber.
1831 J. Sinclair Corr. II. 157 The scarrifier or grubber, for pulverizing the soil.
1848 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) I. 487/2 The common Scotch grubber resembles a strong harrow frame, running upon four wheels and guided like a plough.
1861 Times 10 Oct. The bean stubble is broken up by Tennant's grubber and the wheat lightly ploughed in.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Grubber, a tool for rooting—a combination of axe and mattock.
1911 Encycl. Brit. VII. 618/2 Cultivator, also called scuffler, scarifier or grubber.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 392/2 Grubber, a heavy type of cultivator in which the teeth are set rigidly in a frame.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Feb. 271/2 The aim should be to secure a seed-bed with a rubbly surface and with the fine soil worked to the bottom through frequent use of grubber and harrows.
3. One who gets together wealth by sordid or contemptible methods. Now usually money-grubber. [Compare Dutch grobber money-grubber.]
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [noun] > one who wants or acquires money > specific desirously or avariciously
pick-penny1440
scraper1561
grubber1578
coin-cormorant1594
purse-leech1605
purse-emptier1611
pouch-penny1629
purse-sucker1671
gruba1681
money-grub1768
money-grubber1825
scratch-penny1835
get-rich-quicker1914
1578 T. White Serm. Pawles Crosse 3 Nov. 1577 58 Such grubbers there bee whiche grynde the faces of the poore.
4.
a. An eater, a feeder.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > [noun] > eater
eatera1000
repaster1517
feeder1550
moutha1553
dieter1577
trencherman1590
assument1657
eatress1834
grubber1838
pecker1862
nosher1917
1838 ‘P. Pry’ Oddities London Life I. 235 She chucks ony von tater at me, and a bit of meat vot aint of no use to sitch a heavy grubber as I am.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. vi. 102 I like to see a fellow an honest grubber at breakfast and dinner.
1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations III. i. 9 ‘I'm a heavy grubber, dear boy’, he said, as a polite kind of apology when he had made an end of his meal.
b. slang. (See quot. 1940.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > place for storing food > [noun] > tuck-box
tuck box1934
grubber1940
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > shop selling provisions > tuck-shop
tuck-shop1857
grubber1940
1940 M. Marples Public School Slang 91 Grubber, tuck~shop..tuck-box.
c. Food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun]
meateOE
eatOE
foodOE
fodderOE
dietc1230
gista1290
victual1303
victualsa1375
preya1382
feedinga1398
pasturea1398
viancea1400
viandsc1400
livingc1405
meatingc1425
vitalyc1440
vianda1450
cates1461
vivers1536
viandry1542
viander1543
gut-matter1549
peck1567
belly-cheer1579
appast1580
manchet1583
chat1584
belly-metal1590
repasture1598
cibaries1599
belly-timber1607
belly-cheat1608
peckage1610
victuallage1622
keeping1644
vivresa1650
crib1652
prog1655
grub1659
beef1661
fooding1663
teething1673
eatablea1687
sunket1686
yam1788
chow-chow1795
keep1801
feed1818
grubbing1819
patter1824
ninyam1826
nyam1828
grubbery1831
tack1834
kai1845
mungaree1846
scoff1846
foodstuff1847
chuck1850
muckamuck1852
tuck1857
tucker1858
hash1865
nosh1873
jock1879
cake flour1881
chow1886
nosebag1888
stodge1890
food aid1900
tackle1900
munga1907
scarf1932
grubber1959
1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren ix. 163 Food in general is referred to as ‘bait’.., ‘grub’, or ‘grubber’.
5. Cricket. = grub n. 5.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [noun] > a ball bowled > types of delivery or ball
full toss1826
long hop1830
twister1832
bail ball1833
bailer1833
grubber1837
slow ball1838
wide1838
ground ball1839
shooter1843
slower ball1846
twiddler1847
creeper1848
lob1851
sneak1851
sneaker1851
slow1854
bumper1855
teaser1856
daisy-cutter1857
popper1857
yorker1861
sharpshooter1863
headball1866
screwball1866
underhand1866
skimmerc1868
grub1870
ramrod1870
raymonder1870
round-armer1871
grass cutter1876
short pitch1877
leg break1878
lob ball1880
off-break1883
donkey-drop1888
tice1888
fast break1889
leg-breaker1892
kicker1894
spinner1895
wrong 'un1897
googly1903
fizzer1904
dolly1906
short ball1911
wrong 'un1911
bosie1912
bouncer1913
flyer1913
percher1913
finger-spinner1920
inswinger1920
outswinger1920
swinger1920
off-spinner1924
away swinger1925
Chinaman1929
overspinner1930
tweaker1938
riser1944
leg-cutter1949
seamer1952
leggy1954
off-cutter1955
squatter1955
flipper1959
lifter1959
cutter1960
beamer1961
loosener1962
doosra1999
1837 Bell's Life in London 15 Oct. 4/1 The Catapulta..was capable of..giving a home toss or a grubber.
1924 D. H. Lawrence & M. L. Skinner Boy in Bush 116 Ross..sent down a sulky grubber.
1963 Times 23 May 4/1 Constable was undermined by a ‘grubber’.
Compounds
grubber kick n. Rugby a forward kick of the ball along the ground.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > types of kick or ball
drop1845
drop-kick1857
punt-out1861
free kick1862
poster1862
goal kick1870
dropout1882
touch kick1887
touch-finder1898
fly-kick1906
grubber kick1950
grub-kick1951
tap-kick1960
up and under1960
chip kick1965
Garryowen1965
box kick1972
chip and chase1976
1950 Adam (Sydney) Feb. 29 If it wasn't Sullivan's boot winning kicking duels, it was Parkin's grubber-kicks.
1956 V. Jenkins Lions Rampant xiii. 199 This time Ulyate put through a grubber kick from fly-half which Cameron failed to gather.
1960 Sunday Times 27 Nov. 20/1 From a set scrum, Lockyer fed Kirkpatrick, going right, and he put a grubber kick between Rogers and D. Bebb.
grubber-kick v. (intransitive) to make a grubber kick.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (intransitive)] > actions or manoeuvres
pack1874
heel1884
scrum1890
goal1900
drop1905
to give (or sell) the (or a) dummy1907
ruck1910
jinka1914
to drop out1917
fly-kick1930
scissor1935
quick-heel1936
short-punt1937
touch-kick1954
grubber-kick1958
peel1960
corner-flag1962
to chip and chase1970
box kick1977
1958 N.Z. Listener 18 July 6/4 He tried grubber kicking. All right, if they're going to grubber kick there's only one thing to do.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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