GRUB  , the larva of an

insect, a caterpillar, maggot . The word is formed from the verb " to grub," to dig, break up the surface of the ground, and clear of stumps, roots, weeds, &c . According to the New English Dictionary, " grub " may be referred w an ablaut variant of the Old Teutonic grab-, to dig, cf . " grave." Skeat (Etym . Diet . 1898) refers it rather to the root seen in " grope," " grab," &c., the original meaning " to search for." The earliest quotation of the slang use of the word in the sense of food in the New English Dictionary is dated 1659 from Ancient Poems, Ballads, &c., Percy Society Publications .