schlubby
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈʃlʌbi/
ipa: /ˈʃlʌbi/
ipa: /ˈʃlə-/
ipa: /ˈʃlʊbi/
rhymes: -ʌbi
Forms: form: schlubbier
form: more schlubby
form: schlubbiest
form: most schlubby
form: shlubby
form: zhlubby
Etymology: From schlub + -y; schlub is derived from Yiddish זשלאָב (zhlob), perhaps from Polish żłób (“manger, trough; furrow, large groove in the soil”).
Senses: examples: text: It's a wasted review copy, sending “schlubby” nonfiction to Eliot Fremont-Smith at New York magazine or a book by William Buckley to Rolling Stone […]
ref: 1974, Genevieve Stuttaford, “A Short Review of the Magazine Reviewers”, in Publishers Weekly, volume 206, number 19, New York, N.Y.: F[rederick] Leypoldt, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 1:
text: Except for Barry Diller eating steak and Diane Von Furstenberg picking at his frites, the room at the top is still empty at 9:30 p.m. On the ground floor, the chic and the schlubby are slowly rendering the bar invisible.
ref: 1992 June 29 – July 6, Phoebe Eaton, “The Cool World: Table Dancing, Slalom Shots, and Other Strange Rites of the Night”, in Edward Kosner, editor, New York, volume 25, number 26, New York, N.Y.: K=III Magazine Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 50:
text: In fact, the Internet, for political if not commercial causes, turns out to be a way to efficiently reach people whose very engagement (even overengagement) separates them most from ordinary zhlubby citizens.
ref: 2003 September 15, Michael Wolff, “Candidate.com”, in New York, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Jan 2017:
text: [P]ut on your schlubbiest clothes, dab on some pimple cream, and go to the grocery store. […] Don't start your days in the hole. Besides, you never know when the new Mr. Right will come along. …
ref: 2005, Greg Behrendt, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt, “The Fifth Commandment: Don’t Wear Your Breakup out into the World”, in It’s Called a Breakup because It’s Broken: The Smart Girl’s Breakup Buddy, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN, part 2 (The Breakover), page 238:
text: Just thinking about ballet makes most people feel schlubbier and more sluglike when they shuffle out of their bedrooms in the morning or slide under the barstool at night.
ref: 2008, Lynn Phillips, “Self-loathing Dabbles in the Arts”, in Self-loathing for Beginners, Santa Monica, Calif.: Santa Monica Press, →ISBN, part IV (The Self-loathing Elite), page 170:
text: Although [Seth] Rogen had his artistic breakthrough with “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” two years ago, he achieved mass appeal this year as a funny, lovable, shlubby every-guy who won the beautiful blonde.
ref: 2008 February 10, Lynn Hirschberg, “Breaking through”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 12 May 2011:
text: Apple’s ads promote what you can do with an iPhone or iPod, or show the comedian John Hodgman as a schlubby PC guy being outfoxed by the actor Justin Long as hip Mac guy.
ref: 2009 February 4, Brad Stone, “In campaign wars, Apple still has Microsoft’s number”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2019:
glosses: Clumsy, oafish, or socially awkward; unattractive or unkempt.
Related terms: schlub