Grub vs. Larva — What's the Difference?

To dig up by or as if by the roots

A larva (plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.

To clear of roots and stumps by digging

The newly hatched, wingless, often wormlike form of many insects, developing into a pupa in species that undergo complete metamorphosis.

(Slang) To obtain by importunity

The six-legged immature form of a tick or mite.

To dig in the earth

The newly hatched, earliest form of any of various animals that undergo metamorphosis, differing markedly in appearance from the adult.

To search laboriously by or as if by digging; rummage.

Roman Mythology A malevolent spirit of the dead.

To toil arduously; drudge

An early stage of growth for some insects and amphibians, in which after hatching from their egg, insects are wingless and resemble a caterpillar or grub, and amphibians lack limbs and resemble fish.

The thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects.

An animal in the aforementioned stage.

A drudge.

A form of a recently born or hatched animal that is quite different from its adult stage.

(Slang) Food.

(figurative) A preliminary stage of someone or something, before it has fully matured, especially a time of growth rather than one of performance.

(countable) An insect at an immature stage of its life cycle.

Any young insect from the time that it hatches from the egg until it becomes a pupa, or chrysalis. During this time it usually molts several times, and may change its form or color each time. The larvæ of many insects are much like the adults in form and habits, but have no trace of wings, the rudimentary wings appearing only in the pupa stage. In other groups of insects the larvæ are totally unlike the parents in structure and habits, and are called caterpillars, grubs, maggots, etc.

Food.

The early, immature form of any animal when more or less of a metamorphosis takes place, before the assumption of the mature shape.

A dirty person.

The immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose

A despicable person; a lowlife.

(obsolete) A short, thick man; a dwarf.

To scavenge or in some way scrounge, typically for food.

(ambitransitive) To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; often followed by up.

To supply with food.

To eat.

To dig in or under the ground, generally for an object that is difficult to reach or extricate; to be occupied in digging.

To drudge; to do menial work.

To dig; to dig up by the roots; to root out by digging; - followed by up; as, to grub up trees, rushes, or sedge.

To supply with food.

The larva of an insect, especially of a beetle; - called also grubworm. See Illust. of Goldsmith beetle, under Goldsmith.

A short, thick man; a dwarf.

Victuals; food.

Informal terms for a meal

A soft thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects

Ask for and get free; be a parasite

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