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Added 5 October 2026

shrub

/ˈʃɹʌb/ noun

In Latin: arbuscula, frutex Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shrub at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A woody plant smaller than a tree, and usually with several stems from the same base.

verb

To lop; to prune.
To plant a shrub in a yard, garden, etc.; to prune a bush or other plant into a shrub.

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.

verb

To make or drink a shrub (liquor drink).

Origin

From Middle English schrub, schrob, (also unassibilated as scrub), from Old English *sċrob (in placenames) and sċrybb (“a shrub; shrubbery; underbrush”); akin to Norwegian skrubbe (“the dwarf cornel tree”). Doublet of scrub.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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