shrub1

[shruhb] /ʃrʌb/
noun
1.
a woody plant smaller than a tree, usually having multiple permanent stems branching from or near the ground.
Origin
before 1000; Middle English shrubbe, Old English scrybb brushwood; cognate with dialectal Danish skrub
Related forms
shrubless, adjective
shrublike, adjective

shrub2

[shruhb] /ʃrʌb/
noun
1.
any of various acidulated beverages made from the juice of fruit, sugar, and other ingredients, often including alcohol.
Origin
1740-50; < Arabic, metathetic variant of shurb drink; see sherbet
Examples from the web for shrub
  • The plant grows as a small tree or shrub and retains moisture behind its bark, making it a valuable ally against dehydration.
  • Students will understand the difference between a tree, a shrub, and a herbaceous plant.
  • It's a fact sheet about the ecological threat posed by this invasive shrub.
  • And if the twig came from an aromatic tree or shrub, all the better, because you got some breath freshener in the bargain.
  • Ginseng is an ordinary-looking shrub that has an extraordinary root.
  • They looked at birds in different areas of vegetation, including intact forest, plantations and shrub land.
  • He has attempted to legalise production of coca, the shrub from which cocaine is extracted.
  • He had four hectares of the green-leaved shrub, enough to provide a living for his family of seven.
  • The nectar of a flower bears little resemblance in taste to the fruit or herb a tree or shrub produces.
  • Cursed by a disease that may wither him to a shrub of what he once was, he screams for more attention.
British Dictionary definitions for shrub

shrub1

/ʃrʌb/
noun
1.
a woody perennial plant, smaller than a tree, with several major branches arising from near the base of the main stem
Derived Forms
shrublike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English scrybb; related to Middle Low German schrubben coarse, uneven, Old Swedish skrubba to scrub1

shrub2

/ʃrʌb/
noun
1.
a mixed drink of rum, fruit juice, sugar, and spice
2.
mixed fruit juice, sugar, and spice made commercially to be mixed with rum or other spirits
Word Origin
C18: from Arabic sharāb, variant of shurb drink; see sherbet
Word Origin and History for shrub
n.

Old English scrybb "brushwood, shrubbery," a rare and late word (but preserved also, perhaps, in Shrewsbury), possibly from a Scandinavian source (cf. dialectal Danish skrub "brushwood," Norwegian skrubba "dwarf tree"). Presumably related to North Frisian skrobb "broom plant, brushwood;" West Flemish schrobbe "climbing wild pea," with a base notion of "rough plant," from PIE *(s)kerb-, extended form of root *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)).

shrub in Science
shrub
  (shrŭb)   
A woody plant that is smaller than a tree, usually having several stems rather than a single trunk; a bush.