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REFERENCE

chub

n. countable
C2 Proficiency UK //tʃˈʌb// chub Informal Slang

n. a person who is very boring, uninteresting, or has no personality. It is a very informal and slightly rude way to describe someone who is not fun to be around.

n. a person perceived as dull, uninteresting, or lacking in personality. Highly informal and often used in a derogatory or dismissive manner within specific social subcultures.


SIMPLE

He is such a chub; he never does anything fun.

CONTEXTUAL

The group decided to exclude him from the weekend trip because he was such a chub and would only complain.

COMPLEX

While the term is rarely used in professional settings, it remains a staple of certain online subcultures where being perceived as a 'chub' is considered a mark of social failure.

Etymology 1

From chub (“short, thick fish species used as bait"; used metaphorically since 1558 for "lazy person”), from Middle English chubbe (“chub (the river fish)”), recorded since c.1450, probably an assibilated form of cub (“a lump, heap, mass”) and cob, from Middle English *cubbe (found only in derivative cubbel (“a block to which an animal is tethered”)), from Old Norse kubbr, kumbr (“block, stump, log”) and/or Old Norse kumben (“stumpy”), see kobbi. Cognate with Icelandic kubbur (“block, cube”), Norwegian kubb, kubbe (“block, stump, log”), Swedish kubb (“block, log”), and perhaps to Icelandic kubba (“to hew, chop, lop”) and Russian кубышка (kubyška). More at cob, kibble.

Etymology 2

Back-formation from chubby.

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