shrub

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈshrəb 

 especially Southern  ˈsrəb

: a low usually several-stemmed woody plant

shrub-like adjective

or shrublike

ˈshrəb-ˌlīk 

 especially Southern  ˈsrəb-

shrub-like plants

shrub

2 of 2

noun (2)

1

: an aged blend of fruit juice, sugar, and spirits served chilled and diluted with water

2

: a beverage made by adding acidulated fruit juice to iced water

Examples of shrub in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Though fall is a great time to clean up your garden and prep it for spring, don’t be tempted to prune or fertilize trees and shrubs too late in the season. —Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 Nov. 2025

Prune evergreen shrubs and trees that provide too much shade on the lawn. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2025

Kittens ambush one another from behind shrubs. —John Ruwitch, NPR, 30 Oct. 2025

The organization’s Green Heart Project, which studies the impact of better air quality on heart disease through urban greening, has found that increasing the number of trees and shrubs in an area can create lower levels of a blood marker associated with inflammation. —Maggie Menderski, Louisville Courier Journal, 26 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English schrobbe, from Old English scrybb brushwood; akin to Norwegian skrubbebær, a cornel of a dwarf species

Noun (2)

Arabic sharāb beverage

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

circa 1706, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shrub

• bub
• club
• cub
• dub
• grub
• hub
• nub
• pub
• rub
• scrub
• snub
• stub

Kids Definition

shrub

noun

ˈshrəb

: a woody plant that has several stems and is smaller than most trees