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Shrub
Definitions
- 1 George W. Bush (born 1946), the 43rd president of the United States (2001–2009). US, derogatory
"Ann Richards [...] is running for reelection as Governor of Texas against George W. Bush, a Republican and the eldest son of the former President. […] She derides him as “all hat and no cattle.” […] Her followers hand out bumper stickers saying: “Don't elect the son-of-a-Bush.” They call him “Shrub.”"
- 1 A woody plant smaller than a tree, and usually with several stems from the same base.
"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."
- 2 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
- 3 A word mispronounced by replacing some consonant sounds with others of a similar place of articulation as influenced by one's mother tongue. Kenya, slang
"It is not only in face-to-face contexts that Kenyans police shrubbing; there are newspaper columns inviting readers to send in shrubs that they have witnessed, […]"
- 4 a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems wordnet
- 1 To lop; to prune. obsolete
"The Papistes[…]though they be woll shrubbed, and shred, yet they begin euen nowe before the springe, to budde."
- 2 To make or drink a shrub (liquor drink). rare
- 3 To mispronounce (a word or words) in another language in a manner that is influenced by one's mother tongue. Kenya, ambitransitive, slang
"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."
- 4 To plant a shrub in a yard, garden, etc.; to prune a bush or other plant into a shrub. rare
Etymology
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”).
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”).
From Arabic شِرَاب (širāb, “a drink, beverage”), شَرِبَ (šariba, “to drink”), akin to syrup, sherbet, and sorbet.
From Arabic شِرَاب (širāb, “a drink, beverage”), شَرِبَ (šariba, “to drink”), akin to syrup, sherbet, and sorbet.
Of unknown origin. First attested in the 2000s. Chiefly used in respect to English or Swahili pronounced in a manner characteristic of another Kenyan language.
Of unknown origin. First attested in the 2000s. Chiefly used in respect to English or Swahili pronounced in a manner characteristic of another Kenyan language.
A play on his surname Bush, a shrub being a smaller bush, thus indicating that he is the junior Bush in relation to his father George H. W. Bush. Popularized by American newspaper columnist Molly Ivins (1944–2007), who co-wrote Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush (2000) with Lou Dubose.
See also for "shrub"
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