rubbish
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/
rhymes: -ʌbɪʃ
Forms: form: rubbishes
form: rubbishing
form: rubbished
form: rubbished
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", also possibly "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”). Compare Swedish rubba (“to move, displace, dislodge, upset”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: In my judgment, it is not Christian—I think that is the proper way to put it—to rubbish the leaders of our trade union movements, both employers' and workers'. [...] The employers are quite right in rubbishing this section. The recently retired Chief Ombudsman rubbished it. The insurance guild, not exactly known as a militant trade union until recently, has rubbished it. Twenty-nine leaders in our community have rubbished it.
ref: 1977 August 17, A[rthur] J[ames] Faulkner, “Human Rights Commission Bill”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Third Session, Thirty-eighth Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 412, Wellington: E. C. Keating, government printer, published 1978, →OCLC, pages 2307–2308:
text: We're messing around at work, the three of us, getting ready to go home and rubbishing each other's five best side one track ones of all time [...]
ref: 1995, Nick Hornby, chapter 13, in High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 122:
text: Oh, there is fuel enough for the memoirs, even if Marion's eyes glaze over, periodically, during tea or one of Corrie's rather awful lunches [...]. The names flow forth, and are rubbished or extolled, [...]
ref: 2011, Penelope Lively, chapter 1, in How It All Began, London: Fig Tree, Penguin Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2012, →ISBN, page 11:
text: 'It's the first real acting job I've had and he completely rubbishes it. My career will be over before it even starts.' / 'I wouldn't take it too personally,' Shelley said as she reloaded the café dishwasher. 'Bryn Dwyer rubbishes just about everything. [...']
ref: 2012, Melanie Milburne, chapter 1, in The Virgin’s Price, London: Mill & Boon Sexy, →ISBN:
text: Such irresponsible comments seem to me clearly an attempt for political reasons to rubbish a past that was of a far better quality than anything that exists today.
ref: 2020 May 20, Barry Doe, “McLoughlin unfair with opinion of late-BR rail”, in Rail, page 65:
text: Delia's Complete Cookery Course is still in print more than 40 years since its first publication. “Everybody did rubbish it,” she says.
ref: 2023 July 15, Josh Noble, quoting Delia Smith, “‘Life is not a bowl of cherries’”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:
glosses: To criticize, to denigrate, to denounce, to disparage.
examples: text: Speaking at today's (Tuesday) press conference to announce details of the show, Chairman of the Steering Committee, Mr Cheng Chun-ping urged members of the public to sustain their keep clean efforts and to let the message of the campaign slogan -- "There is never any excuse to rubbish your home" stride across the new Millennium.
ref: 1999 December 1, Cheng Chun-ping, quotee, “Special TV programme to disseminate keep clean messages”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
text: In the 1970s there was a hugely successful campaign using the slogan: "You wouldn't rubbish your home. Australia's your home. Don't rubbish Australia." The adverts compared tossing table scraps on to the carpet with throwing food packaging from a car. It worked.
ref: 2007 March 8, Tika Viker-Bloss, “How to tackle the rising tide of litter in filthy Britain”, in The Guardian:
glosses: To litter.
Derived terms: rubbisher