scrub
[verb]
Synonyms:
- scour, clean, cleanse, rub
- cancel, abolish, call off, delete, drop, forget about, give up

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Related Words: brush, rub, cleanse, wash, buff, polish

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English Thesaurus: clean, wash, wipe, scrub, rinse, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. scrub¹ /skrʌb/ verb (past tense and past participle scrubbed, present participle scrubbing)
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Low German; Origin: or a Scandinavian language]

1. [intransitive and transitive] to rub something hard, especially with a stiff brush, in order to clean it:
She was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor.
He scrubbed the dirt off his boots.
The table needs to be scrubbed clean.
scrub at
She scrubbed at her face with a tissue.

2. [transitive] informal to decide not to do something that you had planned Synonym : cancel:
We scrubbed the idea in the end.
scrub something ↔ out phrasal verb
to clean the inside of a place thoroughly:
The rooms are all scrubbed out once a week.
scrub up phrasal verb
to wash your hands and arms before doing a medical operation

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. scrub² noun
[Sense 1: Date: 1300-1400; Origin: shrub]
[Sense 2: Date: 1900-2000; Origin: ⇒ scrub¹]

1. [uncountable] low bushes and trees that grow in very dry soil

2. [singular] especially British English if you give something a scrub, you clean it by rubbing it hard:
I gave the floor a good scrub.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

scrub
noun
I. small trees growing in a dry area
ADJ. desert miles of desert scrub
low The vegetation consisted of low scrub.
QUANT. patch The horses stood near a patch of scrub.
VERB + SCRUB be covered in, be overgrown with The mountain was covered in scrub.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

scrub
II. cleaning
ADJ. good I gave the table a good scrub.
VERB + SCRUB give sb/sth

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

scrub
verb
ADV. thoroughly | away, down, out
PREP. at She scrubbed at the child's face with a tissue.
from, off He scrubbed the blood from his shoes.
PHRASES freshly scrubbed his freshly scrubbed face
scrub sth clean The table had been scrubbed clean.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

clean to remove dirt from something:
I need to clean the car.
Clean the mud off your shoes.
wash to clean something with water and usually soap:
She’s washing her hair.
There’s nowhere to wash your clothes.
wipe to clean a surface with a cloth, often a wet cloth:
Wipe the worktop when you’ve finished cooking.
scrub to wash something by rubbing it hard, especially with a brush:
They made her scrub the floor.
rinse to remove dirt from something using water, especially after washing it with soap:
Rinse your hair thoroughly after shampooing it.
cleanse formal to clean your skin, using water or a special cream:
There are many products available for cleansing your skin.
bathe /beɪð/ to clean a wound or a part of your body with water:
Bathe the cut and put a plaster on it.
do the dishes (also do the washing-up British English) to wash plates and pans after a meal:
Who’s going to help me do the dishes?
do the laundry (also do the washing British English) to wash clothes:
On Tuesdays, he does the washing.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

clean without any dirt or marks:
They need clean water to drink.
I don’t have any clean clothes.
pure water or air that is pure does not contain any dirt, pollution, or bacteria:
I breathed in the pure mountain air.
sterile /ˈsteraɪl $ -rəl/ completely clean, with no bacteria, and therefore safe for medical or scientific use:
Place a sterile bandage on the wound.
sterile needles
spotless completely clean – used mainly about rooms and clothes:
Her kitchen is always spotless.
pristine /ˈprɪstiːn/ completely clean and new-looking:
He wore a pristine white shirt.
immaculate as clean and tidy as it is possible to be:
The soldiers’ uniforms have to be immaculate.
spick and span [not before noun] informal clean and tidy, especially after having just been cleaned:
By the end of the day, the whole place was spick and span.
wash to clean something with water and usually soap:
She’s washing her hair.
There’s nowhere to wash your clothes.
wipe to clean a surface with a cloth, often a wet cloth:
Wipe the worktop when you’ve finished cooking.
scrub to wash something by rubbing it hard, especially with a brush:
They made her scrub the floor.
rinse to remove dirt from something using water, especially after washing it with soap:
Rinse your hair thoroughly after shampooing it.
cleanse formal to clean your skin, using water or a special cream:
There are many products available for cleansing your skin.
bathe /beɪð/ to clean a wound or a part of your body with water:
Bathe the cut and put a plaster on it.
do the dishes (also do the washing-up British English) to wash plates and pans after a meal:
Who’s going to help me do the dishes?
do the laundry (also do the washing British English) to wash clothes:
On Tuesdays, he does the washing.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

wash to clean something with soap and water:
Our car needs washing.
Make sure that you wash your hands.
do the washing British English, do the laundry American English to wash clothes that need to be washed:
Did you do the laundry this morning?
I do the washing on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
do the washing up British English (also wash up British English), do the dishes American English to wash all the cups, plates, knives etc that you have used during a meal:
If you do the cooking tonight, I’ll do the washing up.
Who’s going to do the dishes?
cleanse formal to make something completely clean, especially using a special substance:
Carefully cleanse the cut to get rid of any grit or dirt.
rinse to wash something with water in order to remove soap or dirt:
I’ll just rinse the lettuce under the tap.
scrub to make something very clean, using a stiff brush and water, or soap and water:
Lou was on her knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor.
mop to wash a floor with a wet mop (=special stick with thick threads on the end):
A cleaner mopped the floor between the beds.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲