Cub Meaning
/kʌb/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe young of certain animals, chiefly large carnivorous mammals, including the bear, wolf, fox, lion and tiger.
nounA member of the Cub Scouts.
Sentence Examples
You are doing well for a cub reporter.
The tiger cub looked like a large kitten.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother bear protected her tiny ____ from the hunter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You are doing well for a ____ reporter.
Word Origin & History
From earlier cubbe. Origin unknown. According to Pokorny, from Proto-Germanic *kubb-, from Proto-Indo-European *gup- (“round object, knoll”), from *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch, vault”). Compare Icelandic and Old Norse kobbi (“seal”), Old Irish cuib (“whelp”). Compare also English cob. Originally, the meaning was specifically "young fox", in which sense it has largely replaced English whelp.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"a Childe of Lacedemon suffered all his belly and gutts to be torne out by a Cubbe or young Foxe, which he had stolne, and kept close under his garment, rather then he would discover his theft."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 32, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"O, thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou be / When time hath sowed a grizzle on thy case?"
— c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
"He had also kept with him two wild young wives and several wilder cubs."
— 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 118:
"[...] I would rather have such a good mother in cub or kennel, than in my closet, or at my table."
— 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation XIII. Peter Leopold and President Du Paty.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 193:
"Swain has interviewed 67 reporters on 16 metropolitan dailies in 10 cities — from cubs to veterans — who talk candidly […]"
— 1978, The Journalism Quarterly, volume 55, page 652:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother bear protected her tiny ____ from the hunter.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You are doing well for a ____ reporter.