From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgrubbygrub‧by /ˈɡrʌbi/ adjective 1 DIRTYfairly dirty a grubby handkerchief a gang of grubby kids► see thesaurus at dirty2 BAD BEHAVIOUR OR ACTIONSgrubby behaviour or activity is morally unpleasant the grubby details of his financial dealings3 → grubby hands/paws/mitts —grubbiness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
grubby• And evidence shows that women feel more inhibited by things like not having cleaned their teeth or feeling grubby.• Her coat was grubby and one of the sleeves was torn.• grubby clothes• He knows all about sadness, temptation and the grubby facts of life.• He blew his nose with a grubby handkerchief.• Travelling always made her feel grubby, nomatterhow luxurious it was.• All at once the hotel seemed very small - another small dark grubby place that was locking her in.• As an aggressive, grubby schoolkid and a keen stargazer, I was desperate to be the first to go.• From his back pocket Robert took out a grubby scrap of paper.• Her grubby studio boss just cared about money.• Enter one slightly grubby swan, stage right, to swim nonchalantly beside the boat, incognito.• They loiter outside the big match with fistfuls of grubby tickets priced at many times their face value.• One of the men dons a grubby white coat and a surgical-type cap.Origin grubby (1600-1700) → GRUB1; because places full of grubs are dirty 