[f. TUB sb. + -FUL.] As much as a tub will hold.
1788. Ld. Auckland, Corr., etc. (1861), II. 71. We have a large tubful brought to us every morning.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., II. 72. The rain is pouring on in tubfuls.
1850. Nottinghamshire Guardian, 24 Oct., 5/6. A little boy,… aged about three years, was playing … when he fell backward into a tubful of hot water. The poor little fellow was so scalded that it caused his death the day following.
1894. J. Menzies, Our Town, xx. 211. A gudewife had come to her door with a tubful of soapsuds.
1915. Pottsville (PA) Republican, 27 Jan., 2/2. It [home made whiskey] is a cheap intoxicant made by the tubful with alcohol and a few other ingredients and it is highly intoxicating and crazing in its effects.
