GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) is a bootloader package to load operating systems. GRUB2 is a rewrite, and the dominant version since 2009.
Grub (GRand Unified Bootloader) is a bootloader package.
Briefly, a boot loader is the first software program that runs when a computer starts. It is responsible for loading and transferring control to the operating system kernel software (such as the Hurd or Linux). The kernel, in turn, initializes the rest of the operating system (e.g. GNU).