rub
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ɹʌb//
- Ireland//ɹʊb//
An act of rubbing.
noun
- 1
An act of rubbing.
Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.
- 2
A difficulty or problem.
To die, to sleep— / To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub! / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pause
[…] the propriety of the cabman's shelter, as it was called, hardly a stonesthrow away near Butt bridge where they might hit upon some drinkables in the shape of a milk and soda or a mineral. But how to get there was the rub.
'My dear Devereux, I say, you mustn't talk in that wild way. You—you talk like a ruined man!' 'And I so comfortable!' 'Why, to be sure, Dick, you have had some little rubs, and, maybe, your follies and your vexations; but, hang it, you are young; you can't get experience—at least, so I've found it—without paying for it. […]'
- 3
archaicA quip or sarcastic remark.
- 4
In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course.
- 5
Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing.
a heat rub intended for muscular strains
- 6
Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing. A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.
- 7
slangA loan.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English rubben, of unknown origin; possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną, related to *reufaną (“to tear”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian rubje (“to rub, scrape”), German Low German rubben (“to rub”), Low German rubblig (“rough, uneven”), Dutch robben, rubben (“to rub smooth; scrape; scrub”), Danish rubbe (“to rub, scrub”), Icelandic and Norwegian rubba (“to scrape”). More at reave. Compare typologically Latin fricō < friō < Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (whence also Russian брить (britʹ, “to shave”)).
verb
- 1
To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction.
I rubbed the cloth over the glass.
The cat rubbed itself against my leg.
I rubbed my hands together for warmth.
I couldn't rub the stain from the tablecloth.
- 2
To be rubbed against something.
My shoes are beginning to rub.
- 3
To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing
The smoothed plank, […] / New rubbed with balm.
- 4
datedTo move or pass with difficulty.
to rub through woods, as huntsmen
- 5
To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over.
to rub up silver
The whole business of our redemption is, in short, only to rub over the defaced copy of the creation
- 6
To hinder; to cross; to thwart.
'Tis the duke's pleasure, / Whose disposition, all the world well knows, / Will not be rubbed nor stopped.
- 7
To touch the jack with the bowl.
Forms
- plural
- rubs
- past tense
- rubbed
- past participle
- rubbed
- present participle
- rubbing
- third person singular
- rubs