# rub
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA: /ɹʌb/, enPR: rŭb
** Audio (US):(file)
* (Northern England, Ireland) IPA: /ɹʊb/
* Rhymes: -ʌb

### Noun

rub (plural rubs)
* An act of rubbing.
    Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.
* 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.
** 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:'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. […] '
* (archaic) A quip or sarcastic remark.
* In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course.
* Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing.
    a heat rub intended for muscular strains
** A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.
* (UK, naval slang) A loan.

#### Synonyms

* (a difficulty or problem): hitch, hiccup, catch, kink, glitch, snag

#### Derived terms

* chest rub
* chub rub
* Dutch rub
* hand rub
* heat rub
* Martindale rub test
* Princeton rub
* rub and tug
* rub board
* rub-board
* rub-boardist
* rub iron
* rub-off
* rub of the green
* rub-up
* therein lies the rub

#### Translations
### Verb

rub (third-person singular simple present rubs, present participle rubbing, simple past and past participle rubbed)
* (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.
** 1680, T. K., The Kitchin-Phyſician; Or, a Guide for Good-Housewives in Maintaining Their Families in Health. […] ‎, How to cleanſe the Teeth, and keep them ſound, page 44:You ſhould rub your Teeth and whole Mouth and Gums, the Pallate and Tongue, with a clean courſe cloth, rubbing off the ſlime which groweth upon them in the night.
** 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.
* (intransitive) To be rubbed against something.
    My shoes are beginning to rub.
* (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.
* (dated) To move or pass with difficulty.
    to rub through woods, as huntsmen
* 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
* 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.
* (transitive, bowls) To touch the jack with the bowl.

#### Derived terms

* rub along
* rubber
* rubbing
* rubboard
* rub down
* rub elbows
* rub in
* rub it in
* rub off
* rub off on
* rub one off
* rub one out
* rub oneself off
* rub one's face with a brass candlestick
* rub one's hands
* rub one's hands together
* rub out
* rub salt in someone's wounds
* rub salt in the wound
* rub shoulders
* rub someone's face in
* rub someone's nose in
* rub someone the wrong way
* rub the fear of God into
* rub up
* rub up against
* rub up on
* rub up the wrong way
* two brain cells to rub together
* two pennies to rub together

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* ↑ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “2520”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 2520

### Further reading

* “rub”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “rub”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “rub”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “rub”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* bru, bur, bur-

## Czech
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *rǫbъ (“something which was cut”), from *rǫbati (“to cut, chop”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈrup]
* Rhymes: -up
* Homophone: rup

### Noun

rub m inan
* back (the reverse side)
    Antonym: líc
    rub karty ― back of the card
    rub mince ― reverse of the coin
* the other (often negative) aspect of a situation

#### Derived terms

* naruby

#### See also

* vzhůru nohama
* rubat

### References

* ↑ Jiří Rejzek (2007) “rub”, in Český etymologický slovník (in Czech), Leda

### Further reading

* “rub”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “rub”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
* “rub”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

## Lower Sorbian
### Alternative forms

* rubaj

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [rup]

### Verb

rub
* second-person singular imperative of rubaś

## Manx
### Etymology

Borrowed from English rub.

### Noun

rub m (genitive singular rub, plural rubbyn)
* rub

### Verb

rub (verbal noun rubbey or rubbal)
* to rub

## Serbo-Croatian
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *rǫbъ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rûːb/

### Noun

rȗb m (Cyrillic spelling ру̑б)
* rim
* edge, brink

#### Declension
## Yola
### Etymology

From Middle English ribbe, from Old English ribb, from Proto-West Germanic *ribi.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rʊb/

### Noun

rub (plural rubbès)
* rib

### References

* Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 65