# The lot has been grubbed. What is that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669 "2010-05-25T04:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/1 "2010-05-25T04:06:42Z")
The lot has been _grubbed_. What is that? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/2 "2010-05-25T04:24:53Z")
All (the lot) of the food has been eaten (grubbed) in Brit slang??? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/3 "2010-05-25T04:28:23Z")
Tree stumps have been [removed from a plot of land](http://www.youronlineagents.com/remaxpembroke/viewlisting.php?id=173010) to facilitate construction. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/4 "2010-05-25T10:56:04Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > All (the lot) of the food has been eaten (grubbed) in Brit slang??? That’s not British slang. Grub is a noun meaning food, but not a verb meaning “to eat”. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/5 "2010-05-25T13:09:53Z")
the landscaping use came to mind first for me. a grubbing hoe is a narrower sharp thick bladed hoe used to cut tree and brush roots and to cut and raise sod. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/6 "2010-05-25T13:18:56Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Tree stumps have been [removed from a plot of land](http://www.youronlineagents.com/remaxpembroke/viewlisting.php?id=173010) to facilitate construction. What **Kimstu** said. “Clearing and grubbing” are terms commonly used for civil engineering site work. “Clearing” refers to cutting down trees and brush, but leaving the surface of the ground undisturbed. After a site has been cleared, then, all of the tree stumps and root balls are still in place. “Grubbing” refers to removing all of the plant growth below grade, including tree stumps and root balls. After this has been done, though, there is nothing to prevent the soil from being eroded away, so you have to get measures to prevent this in place before grubbing. In particular, you don’t want eroded soil leaving the site and getting into waterways, so you have to get measures such as silt fences and haybales installed on the downgradient perimeter of the site. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/7 "2010-05-26T16:56:00Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > That’s not British slang. Grub is a noun meaning food, but not a verb meaning “to eat”. You may well be right, but I know many people (not necc. Brits) who commonly say “Lets go grub” when they are heading off to lunch. It is a very widespread slang term around the USA, if not the UK… ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/8 "2010-05-26T17:02:38Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > You may well be right, but I know many people (not necc. Brits) who commonly say “Lets go grub” when they are heading off to lunch. > > It is a very widespread slang term around the USA, if not the UK… I bet you googled that. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/9 "2010-05-26T17:19:15Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > I bet you googled that. If this is a joke, I am not sure I get it… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/10 "2010-05-26T18:10:31Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > If this is a joke, I am not sure I get it… The joke is surely your post above, which he quoted. I know you’re in Utah, so I’ll try and take that into account here, but I seriously, seriously doubt the veracity of your statement re: “let’s go grub” ever being uttered in America on purpose as a form of “let’s go eat”. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/11 "2010-05-26T18:13:20Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > , but I seriously, seriously doubt the veracity of your statement re: “let’s go grub” ever being uttered in America on purpose as a form of “let’s go eat”. I guess that would make you wrong then… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/12 "2010-05-26T18:26:57Z")
The first Thanksgiving after meeting my gf, I was invited to family dinner. I guess in an attempt to be gracious, I was offered the opportunity to “say grace”. Everyone folded hands and lowered their heads. You coulda heard a pin drop. I cleared my throat and said, “Rub-a-dub-dub. Thanks for the grub”. Luckily, everyone there had a sense of humor. Five years later, they still tell the tale, smiling and laughing all the while. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/13 "2010-05-26T18:35:58Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > I bet you googled that. I think it’s a play on another noun-turned-verb; a response to **Colo** > [@](#): > > . . . Grub is a noun meaning food, but not a verb meaning “to eat”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/14 "2010-05-26T22:11:19Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > I seriously, seriously doubt the veracity of your statement re: “let’s go grub” ever being uttered in America on purpose as a form of “let’s go eat”. Dr. Gary N. Underwood’s [article entitled “Razorback Slang”](http://www.jstor.org/stable/3087863) (_American Speech_ 50, 1975, pp. 50-69) appears to contradict your incredulity: > [@](#): > > This is a preliminary report on the slang vocabulary collected during 1970–1972 at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville while I was a faculty member in the Department of English. […] > > **grub up** _v.i._ Eat. “Let’s go grub up.” It doesn’t seem at all surprising to me that such a phrase in thirty-odd years would morph from the form “to grub up” in campus slang to the form “to grub” in a wider context. And indeed, if you do google “Let’s go grub”, you’ll find many attestations of it. That said, though, there’s AFAICT no question that the OP’s phrase “The lot has been grubbed” refers to digging stumps (and root balls, as **robby** noted) out of building lots, not to grubbing as in eating. I’m not sure whether the slang verb “to grub” meaning “to eat” even has any recognized past passive participle form. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/15 "2010-05-26T22:26:00Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Dr. Gary N. Underwood’s [article entitled “Razorback Slang”](http://www.jstor.org/stable/3087863) (_American Speech_ 50, 1975, pp. 50-69) appears to contradict your incredulity: > > It doesn’t seem at all surprising to me that such a phrase in thirty-odd years would morph from the form “to grub up” in campus slang to the form “to grub” in a wider context. And indeed, if you do google “Let’s go grub”, you’ll find many attestations of it. > > That said, though, there’s AFAICT no question that the OP’s phrase “The lot has been grubbed” refers to digging stumps (and root balls, as **robby** noted) out of building lots, not to grubbing as in eating. > > I’m not sure whether the slang verb “to grub” meaning “to eat” even has any recognized past passive participle form. Kimstu, thank you for your help—I am not too savvy when it comes to that sort of thing, and it was thoughtful of you to check it out for me. That said, this is just another silly SDMB tangent, one that I was afterall initially wrong about, and certainly one that I am not emotionally invested in—If good ol’ Snowboarder Bo dosent believe that I have indeed heard phrases like “Where should we go grub lunch” or “Let’s go grub some Del Taco, I am starving” on MANY occasions during my misspent youth, well then, I suppose that I will just have to find the strength to live with the heartbreak of his incredulity… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/16 "2010-05-26T22:34:57Z")
I was hoping the term meant “covered in grubs”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/17 "2010-05-26T22:46:16Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I was hoping the term meant “covered in grubs”. 😃 No, the standard term for that condition is “ **Kimstu** ’s garden”. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/18 "2010-05-26T23:33:18Z")
I had never run into “to grub” meaning “to eat”, though the noun “grub” as slang for “food; a meal” has been in my vocabulary for over 50 years. But I’m chiming in to say that “clearing and grubbing” in the sense **robby** indicates was a common element in cost estimates prepred by the civil engineering firm our grantwriting consulting firm worked with, with the meaning he outlines – site preparation, “clearing” being the removal of objects protruding above ground level (trees, shrubs, fence posts, etc.) along with leveling the site for construction, and “grubbing” being the removal of that below ground surface which might interfere with construction: tree and bush roots, yes., but also dealing with an underground tank, no-longer-functional well, etc., which could increase C&G costs significantly. **Robby** didn’t mention that, so I’m not sure if it was their private usage of an expanded definition of C&G to include them with it, or simply something he didn’t find necessary to mention. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/19 "2010-05-27T00:38:42Z")
**Kimstu** , thanks for the clarification, but I can’t see any more than the first page of that report. I don’t have a JSTOR account. I know that I’ve never heard the word used that way, despite living in many different parts of the US, hence my initial doubt. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lot-has-been-grubbed-what-is-that/540669/20 "2010-05-27T18:12:55Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > …But I’m chiming in to say that “clearing and grubbing” in the sense **robby** indicates was a common element in cost estimates prepred by the civil engineering firm our grantwriting consulting firm worked with, with the meaning he outlines – site preparation, “clearing” being the removal of objects protruding above ground level (trees, shrubs, fence posts, etc.) along with leveling the site for construction, and “grubbing” being the removal of that below ground surface which might interfere with construction: tree and bush roots, yes., but also dealing with an underground tank, no-longer-functional well, etc., which could increase C&G costs significantly. **Robby** didn’t mention that, so I’m not sure if it was their private usage of an expanded definition of C&G to include them with it, or simply something he didn’t find necessary to mention. I have never heard of clearing and grubbing to include anything other than natural vegetable materials. In particular, “clearing” does not typically include removal of fence posts, nor does it include grading the site. “Grubbing” most certainly does not typically include removal of underground storage tanks (USTs). Clearing typically includes “cutting or otherwise removing all trees, saplings, brush and vines, windfalls, logs and trees lying on the ground, dead trees and stubs more than 1 foot high above the ground surface (but not their stumps), trees which have been partially uprooted by natural or other causes (including their stumps), and other vegetable matter such as shags, sawdust, bark, refuse, and similar materials.” Grubbing typically includes “completely removing all stumps and roots to a depth of 18 inches.”