v.  grubbed, grub·bing, grubs  v.tr. 1.  To dig up by or as if by the roots: grubbed carrots with a stick. 2.  To clear of roots and stumps by digging: grubbed a small plot. 3.  Slang   To obtain by importunity: grub a cigarette. v.intr. 1.  To dig in the earth: grub for potatoes. 2.  a.  To search laboriously by or as if by digging; rummage. b.  To toil arduously; drudge: grub for a living. n. 1.  The thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects. 2.  A drudge. 3.  Slang   Food. [Middle English grubben, from Old English *grybban; see  ghrebh-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] grubber n.  | 
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