bub
UK/bʌb/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/bɐb/
bub noun: an alcoholic malt liquor, especially beer. Also the clipping of bubble.
Noun (1)
bub (uncountable)
- An alcoholic malt liquor, especially beer.
- Bub is made from ground barley and strong worts, and sometimes from strong small worts from the coolers, properly blended and boiled with some hops, in the proportion of one pound to a barrel of worts.1838, Samuel Morewood, A Philosophical and Statistical History of the Inventions and Customs of Ancient and Modern Nations in the Manufacture and Use of Inebriating Liquors, page 662
- "You can't remember your *name*? Heh. Well, NEXT time you spend a night in this berg, go easy on the bub."1999 October 12, Black Isle Studios, quoting Morte, Planescape: Torment, Interplay Entertainment
Noun (2)
bub (plural bubs)
- A woman's breast.
- ‘Mr. Blanford, I esteem that there is nothing more sublime in nature than a glimpse of an English lady's bubs.’1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Penguin, published 2004, page 631
Noun (3)
bub (plural bubs)
- A term of familiar address; bubba; bubby.
- So he changed his brusque manner, and inquired, in a tone which was intended to be extremely conciliatory :
‘ What′s your name, bub ? ’
‘ The last one, Sir ? ’ asked bub, looking up.1857, T. B. Aldrich, What Jedd Pallfry found in the Coffin: The Knickerbocker, volume 49, page 23 - Mrs. Peter filled her pocket with the cherries — “ Victoria and bub are so fond of them!” and we scrambled into the wagon.1857, Clara Augusta, Mrs. Peter Dame, George R. Graham, Graham′s Illustrated Magazine, Volume 50, page 398
- So he changed his brusque manner, and inquired, in a tone which was intended to be extremely conciliatory :
- A young brother; a little boy; a familiar term of address for a small boy.
Noun (4)
bub (plural bubs)
- A baby.
Verb
bub (third-person singular simple present bubs, present participle bubbing, simple past and past participle bubbed)
- To throw out in bubbles; to bubble.
- We passed on so far forth till we saw
Rude Acheron, a loathsome lake to tell,
That boils and bubs up swelth as black as hell1563, Thomas Sackville, The Induction
- We passed on so far forth till we saw
Proper noun capitalized: Bub
Bub (plural Bubs)
- A surname from German.
Also used as
bub is also the clipping of bubble.
bub is also the clipping of bubbly.
Forms of bub
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bubs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bubs |
| present participle | bubbing |
| past participle | bubbed |
| past | bubbed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Bubs |
Origin of bub
Probably imitative of the sound of drinking.
Contraction of bubby.
Either a corruption of brother, a modification of bud, or a borrowing from Pennsylvania German Bub or Southern German Bub (as was spoken in various communities in America before the early 20th century), ultimately thought to be derived from Proto-Germanic *bō- (“close [male] relation”) and thus cognate to English boy and babe. Other probable cognates West Frisian bobbe, German Bube (“boy”), dialectal Swedish babbe (“little boy”), English babe, baby, and bully, Dutch boef (“mischievous lad, rascal”), Middle Low German bôve, and Icelandic bófi.
Words formed from bub
Words that rhyme with bub
Questions about bub
- What does bub mean?
- Bub means an alcoholic malt liquor, especially beer.
- What part of speech is bub?
- Bub can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bub?
- Bub is pronounced /bʌb/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bub?
- The plural of bub is bubs.
Words near bub in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bub (page history and authors); Bub (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 bub.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bub.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bub. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.