Word.ws English Dictionary

sub

/sʌb/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Ireland/sʊb/

sub is the abbreviation of submarine.

sub is the clipping of submarine sandwich.

sub is the clipping of submersible.

sub is the clipping of substitute.

sub is the clipping of subscription.

sub is the clipping of subtitle.

Verb (1)

sub (third-person singular simple present subs, present participle subbing, simple past and past participle subbed)

  1. (US, informal) To substitute for.
  2. (US, informal) To work as a substitute teacher, especially in primary and secondary education.
  3. (UK, informal) To replace (a player) with a substitute.
    • He never really made a contribution to the match, so it was no surprise when he was subbed at half time.
  4. (UK, informal, often, uncommon) To bring on (a player) as a substitute.
    • He was subbed on half way through the second half, and scored within minutes.
  5. (UK) To perform the work of a subeditor or copy editor; to subedit.
  6. (Internet, slang, transitive) To subtitle (usually a film or television program).
  7. (UK, slang, transitive) To lend (a person) money.
    • I kept up the pleasantries as we were drying our hands and, realizing I didn't have any change for the lodger, I asked him, one drummer to another like, if he could sub me a quid for the dish.2011, Rowland Rivron, What the F*** Did I Do Last Night?
  8. (intransitive, slang) To subscribe.
  9. To take a submissive role.
    • You've never subbed before. Jessica will be expecting a man on stage that follows orders and enjoys what she's going to be doing. Do you want to be spanked? Possibly whipped?2012, Alicia White, Jessica's Breakdown, page 53
    • Wasn't like she'd never subbed before. She'd been a sub longer than she'd been a Dominatrix–ten years she'd spent in a collar.2012, Tiffany Reisz, Little Red Riding Crop

Verb (2)

sub (third-person singular simple present subs, present participle subbing, simple past and past participle subbed)

  1. To coat with a layer of adhering material; to planarize by means of such a coating.
  2. (microscopy) To prepare (a slide) with a layer of transparent substance to support and/or fix the sample.
    • Ensure that gloves are worn when handling subbed slides. Although the following protocol describes subbing with gelatin, slides may also be coated with either 3-(triethoxysilyl-)propylamine (TESPA) or poly-L-lysine for in situ hybridization.1997, Marina A. Lynch, S. M. O'Mara (editors), Ali D. Hames, D. Rickwood (series editors), Neuroscience Labfax, page 166

Meaning of submarine

Noun

submarine (plural submarines)

  1. A boat that can go underwater.
    • Me: *staring out window* looks like rain
      Submarine captain: what
      Me: but like more2020 January 23, @PleaseBeGneiss, Twitter, archived from the original on 29 Jun 2024
    Synonyms:
    U-boat
    Antonyms:
    surface ship
  2. A pitch delivered with an underhand motion.
  3. Any submarine plant or animal.
  4. (informal) A stowaway on a seagoing vessel.

See all 11 meanings of submarine

Meaning of submarine sandwich

Noun

submarine sandwich (plural submarine sandwiches)

  1. (Canada, US) A sandwich made on a long, cylindrical roll split lengthwise; it typically contains meats and cheeses.
    • "Well, honey, you can have spaghetti and meat balls," said the girl. "But why don't you order a submarine sandwich? My, that's good! Mmm."
    • "What is a submarine sandwich?"
    • "Well, a submarine sandwich comes two ways, the 15¢ one is seven inches long, and for a quarter you get one twelve inches long—"1942, Ludwig Bemelmans, “Vacation”, in I Love You, I Love You, I Love You!, New York: Viking Press, pages 147–148

Preposition

sub

  1. Under.

Synonyms of sub

Forms of sub

Noun
pluralsubs
Verb
third-person singular presentsubs
present participlesubbing
past participlesubbed
pastsubbed

Origin of sub

* Shortened form of any of various words beginning with sub-.

From Latin sub.

Words formed from sub

Phrases with sub

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with sub

14 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about sub

What does sub mean?
Sub means to substitute for.
What is sub the abbreviation of?
Sub is the abbreviation of submarine.
What part of speech is sub?
Sub can be a verb or a preposition.
How do you pronounce sub?
Sub is pronounced /sʌb/.
What is the past tense of sub?
The past tense of sub is subbed.

Words near sub in the dictionary

  1. suavo
  2. suavos
  3. suay
  4. Suazo
  5. Suazos
  6. sub
  7. sub atomic
  8. sub bench
  9. sub benches
  10. sub clover
  11. sub clovers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sub (page history and authors); submarine (page history and authors); submarine sandwich (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-us-sub.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sub.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sub. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.