To beat someone repeatedly, or to defeat someone decisively in a game or competition.
Possibly from Arabic 'daraba' (to beat) brought into English through Middle Eastern contact, or from an imitative origin mimicking the sound of beating. First recorded in English in the 1600s.
The word 'drub' is onomatopoetic—it sounds like hitting something! Interestingly, it entered English around the same time British colonizers were encountering many new cultures, suggesting it may have come from Arabic traders.
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