A thicket or jungle, often specified by the name of the prevailing plant.
oak scrub
I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
2
Vegetation judged to be of inferior quality or of little use to humans, though sometimes thick and impenetrable, growing in poor soil or in sand; also, brush.
3
US One of the common livestock of a region of no particular breed or not of pure breed, especially when inferior in size, etc.; particularly a male animal poorly suited for breeding.
A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress:
We should go there in as proper a manner possible; nor altogether like the scrubs about us.1766, Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield:
1 more example
I daresay we can find one of those devoted, hard-working little scrubs who are glad to come for nothing and live on the table leavings.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
5
Derogatory, Slang One who is incompetent or unable to complete easy tasks.
Wow, she really scored 0? What a scrub!
A scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly And is also known as a buster Always talkin' about what he wants And just sits on his broke ass […]1999 February 2, TLC, “No Scrubs”
1 more example
You triflin', good-for-nothin' type of brother Silly me, why haven't I found another? A baller, when times get hard I need someone to help me out Instead of a scrub like you who don't know what a man's about1999 May 31, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett, Kevin Briggs, Kandi Burruss, “Bills, Bills, Bills”, in The Writing's on the Wall, performed by Destiny's Child, track 3:
6
Hobbies, Lifestyle, SportsSlang One not on the first team of players; a substitute.
7
Games, GamingInternet, Derogatory, Slang A player who whines when outmatched by other players, sometimes by blaming the game mechanics or even accusing the other players of cheating.
Engineers had to scrub the satellite launch due to bad weather.
5
Computing, Databases, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To eliminate or to correct data from a set of records to bring it inline with other similar datasets
The street segment data from the National Post Office will need to be scrubbed before it can be integrated into our system.
6
Media To move a recording tape back and forth with a scrubbing motion to produce a scratching sound, or to do so by a similar use of a control on an editing system.
7
Media To maneuver the play position on a media editing system by using a scroll bar or touch-based interface.
Unacceptable winds aloft caused four scrubs and one hold; adverse weather caused a scrub; […]1988, AIAA 26th Aerospace Sciences Meeting: January 11-14:
3
A worn-out brush.
A scrub [broom worn out] Scopa detrita.1752, Robert Ainsworth, Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius:
4
One who scrubs.
5
That which scrubs.
6
An exfoliant for the body.
7
Medicine, SciencesIn plural Clothing worn while performing surgery.
8
Broadly, In plural Any medical uniform consisting of a short-sleeved shirt and pants (trousers).
A man dressed as a lab tech, his blue scrubs startlingly pale against the vivid red and black chaos, moved into sight from behind the SUV. He carried an assault rifle.2014, Jeff Jacobson, Growth, page 23:
9
Obsolete, Slang Informal attire or dress code; morning dress
The third, which was as homely as its name, and which she reserved for scouring the country and such like rough usage in quite private rural life, was her "Scrub."1876, “Hightum, Titum, and Scrub!”, in The Leisure Hour:
For one of Lucia's quaint ideas was to divide dresses into three classes, "Hightum," "Tightum" and "Scrub."1920, E. F. Benson, Queen Lucia: