rub
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹʌb/
enpr: rŭb
ipa: /ɹʊb/
rhymes: -ʌb
Forms: form: rubs
form: rubbing
form: rubbed
form: rubbed
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”)).
Senses: examples: text: I rubbed the cloth over the glass.
text: The cat rubbed itself against my leg.
text: I rubbed my hands together for warmth.
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: […] Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction.
examples: text: My shoes are beginning to rub.
glosses: To be rubbed against something.
examples: text: meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing
text: The smoothed plank, […] / New rubbed with balm.
ref: 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:
glosses: To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
examples: text: to rub through woods, as huntsmen
glosses: To move or pass with difficulty.
examples: text: to rub up silver
text: The whole business of our redemption is, in short, only to rub over the defaced copy of the creation
ref: a. 1716, Robert South, Man Created in God's Image:
glosses: To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over.
examples: text: 'Tis the duke's pleasure, / Whose disposition, all the world well knows, / Will not be rubbed nor stopped.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To hinder; to cross; to thwart.
qualifier: bowls
glosses: To touch the jack with the bowl.
Synonyms: word: rub
Hypernyms: word: slide
Hyponyms: word: abrade
word: abrase
word: buff
word: burnish
word: chafe
word: fondle
word: frot
word: frottage
word: grate
word: polish
word: rub down
word: scour
word: scrub
word: shine
word: stroke
word: wipe
Derived terms: rub along
rub away
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
Related terms: word: act sexually
word: make clean
word: sexually stimulate