Etymologically
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tub

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tubbe, probably borrowed from Middle Low German tubbe or Middle Dutch tubbe,[2][3][4][5] of uncertain origin.[2][3] A connection with Old High German zubar (“vessel with two handles”) is phonetically improbable,[2] and it is considered unrelated to Latin tubus, the source of tube.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An open wooden vessel of staves and hoops: 1384 (tobbe) in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline, about 1386 in the OED.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

A washtub is from 1560,[2] and a bathtub from 1594, especially by 1776;[2][6][3] jocularly, a bath is from 1849.[3] Tale of a tub, a cock-and-bull story, is from the 1530s.[3] In 17th-century slang the tub was the pulpit, hence tub-preacher (1640s) and tub-thumper (1660s).[3][4] A slow, clumsy ship is from before 1618,[6] and a corpulent person from 1897.[6] The verb, to bathe in a tub, is from 1610, in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist.[2]

Timeline

  • 1384 – tobbe.[2]
  • 1530s – a tale of a tub.[3]
  • 1594 – a bathtub.[2][6]
  • 1610 – to tub (verb).[2]
  • 1660s – tub-thumper.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A wide open container, usually round, for washing, storing or packing.
  2. A small container for food such as ice cream or margarine.
  3. A bathtub, or a bath.
  4. (informal) A slow, clumsy boat.

Verb

  1. To wash or bathe in a tub; to pack in a tub.

Word family

  • tubbable
  • tubber
  • tubful
  • tublike
  • tubman
  • washtub
  • bathtub
  • tub-thump
  • tubby
  • tub-thumper

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press