Verb. (old).—1. To take or supply with food. For synonyms, see subs. sense 1.
1725. New Cant. Dict. Grub, s.v., to eat.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grub, s.v., to dine.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxii., p. 184. I never see such a chap to eat and drink; never. The red-nosed man warn’t by no means the sort of person you’d like to grub by contract, but he was nothin’ to the shepherd.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 18 May, p. 3, c. 1. ‘They are not bound to grub you, don’t you know,’ said Mr. Sleasey, ‘and they try the starving dodge on you sometimes.’
2. (old).—To beg; to ask for alms, especially food.
3. (American).—To study, or read hard; to ‘sweat.’
To ride grub, verb. phr. (old).—To be sulky; crusty (q.v.); disagreeable.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To ride grub, to be sullen or out of temper.
To grub along, verb. phr. (common).—To make one’s way as best one can; ‘to rub along.’