rub
see also: RUB
Etymology

Cognate with Saterland Frisian rubje, nds-de rubben, Low German rubblig, Dutch robben, rubben, Danish rubbe, Icelandic - and Norwegian - rubba.

More at reave.

Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) IPA: /ɹʌb/, enPR: rŭb
  • (Northern England, Ireland) IPA: /ɹʊb/
Noun

rub (plural rubs)

  1. An act of rubbing.
    Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.
  2. A difficulty or problem.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene i]:
      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
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC ↗:
      […] 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.
  3. (archaic) A 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
    1. A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.
  6. (UK, naval slang) A loan.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Verb

rub (rubs, present participle rubbing; simple past and past participle rubbed)

  1. (transitive) 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.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      […] Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
  2. (intransitive) To be rubbed against something.
    My shoes are beginning to rub.
  3. (transitive) To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
    meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
      The smoothed plank, […] / New rubbed with balm.
  4. (dated) To 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
    • a. 1716, Robert South, Man Created in God's Image:
      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.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:
      'Tis the duke's pleasure, / Whose disposition, all the world well knows, / Will not be rubbed nor stopped.
  7. (transitive, bowls) To touch the jack with the bowl.
Translations Translations Translations
  • German: sich abreiben, sich abscheuern, sich ablaufen
  • Portuguese: raspado
Translations Translations
RUB
Noun

rub (plural rubs)

  1. (protein) Any of a group of proteins similar to ubiquitin
  2. Initialism of rich urban biker



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