grub

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To dig up by or as if by the roots: grubbed carrots with a stick.
2. v. To clear of roots and stumps by digging: grubbed a small plot.
3. v. Slang To obtain by importunity: grub a cigarette.
4. v. To dig in the earth: grub for potatoes.
5. v. To search laboriously by or as if by digging; rummage.
6. v. To toil arduously; drudge: grub for a living.
7. n. The thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects.
8. n. A drudge.
9. n. Slang Food.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To dig in or under the ground; hence, to work hard in any way; especially, to make laborious research; search or study closely.
2. To eat; take a meal: as, it is time to grub.
3. To dig; dig up by the roots: frequently followed by up or out: as, to grub up shrubs or weeds.
4. To supply with food; provide with victuals.
5. n. The larva of an insect; especially, the larva of a beetle: as, the white-grub (the larva of Lachnosterna fusca). Also grubworm.
6. n. A short thick man; a dwarf: in contempt.
7. n. Something to eat; victuals; a provision of food (as the product of grubbing or hard work).
8. n. In cricket, a ball bowled along the ground. Also called, in the slang of cricket, sneaker and daisy-cutter.

Wiktionary

1. n. countable An immature stage in the life cycle of an insect; a larva.
2. n. uncountable, slang Food.
3. n. obsolete A short, thick man; a dwarf.
4. v. To scavenge or in some way scrounge, typically for food.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To dig in or under the ground, generally for an object that is difficult to reach or extricate; to be occupied in digging.
2. v. To drudge; to do menial work.
3. v. To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; -- followed by up.
4. v. Slang To supply with food.
5. n. (Zoöl.) The larva of an insect, especially of a beetle; -- called also grubworm. See Illust. of Goldsmith beetle, under goldsmith.
6. n. obsolete A short, thick man; a dwarf.
7. n. Slang Victuals; food.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. ask for and get free; be a parasite
2. n. informal terms for a meal
3. v. search about busily
4. n. a soft thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects