rub

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: Probably of Celtic origin; cf. W. rhwbiaw, gael. rub.

1. To subject (a body) to the action of something moving over its surface with pressure and friction, especially to the action of something moving back and forth; as, to rub the flesh with the hand; to rub wood with sandpaper.

It shall be expedient, after that body is cleaned, to rub the body with a coarse linen cloth.— Sir Thomas Elyot

2. To move over the surface of (a body) with pressure and friction; to graze; to chafe; as, the boat rubs the ground.

3. To cause (a body) to move with pressure and friction along a surface; as, to rub the hand over the body.

Two bones rubbed hard against one another.— John Arbuthnot

4. To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.

The smoothed plank,... New rubbed with balm.— John Milton

5. To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; — often with up or over; as, to rub up silver.

The whole business of our redemption is to rub over the defaced copy of the creation.— Robert South

6. To hinder; to cross; to thwart. rare

'T is the duke's pleasure, Whose disposition, all the world well knows, Will not be rubbed nor stopped.— William Shakespeare

To rub down. (a) To clean by rubbing; to comb or curry; as, to down a horse. (b) To reduce or remove by rubbing; as, to rub down the rough points. — To rub off, to clean anything by rubbing; to separate by friction; as, to rub off rust. — To rub out, to remove or separate by friction; to erase; to obliterate; as, to rub out a mark or letter; to rub out a stain. — To rub up. (a) To burnish; to polish; to clean. (b) To excite; to awaken; to rouse to action; as, to rub up the memory.

1. To move along the surface of a body with pressure; to grate; as, a wheel rubs against the gatepost.

2. To fret; to chafe; as, to rub upon a sore.

3. To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.

To rub along or on, to go on with difficulty; as, they manage, with strict economy, to rub along. colloquial

Origin: Cf. W. rhwb. See Rub, v,t,

1. The act of rubbing; friction.

2. That which rubs; that which tends to hinder or obstruct motion or progress; hindrance; obstruction, an impediment; especially, a difficulty or obstruction hard to overcome; a pinch.

Every rub is smoothed on our way.— William Shakespeare

To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub.— William Shakespeare

Upon this rub, the English ambassadors thought fit to demur.— Sir John Hayward

One knows not, certainly, what other rubs might have been ordained for us by a wise Providence.— Walter Besant

3. Inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls; unevenness. William Shakespeare

4. Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.

5. Imperfection; failing; fault. obsolete Francis, & Fletcher, John. Beaumont

6. A chance. obsolete

Flight shall leave no Greek a rub.— George Chapman

7. A stone, commonly flat, used to sharpen cutting tools; a whetstone; — called also rubstone.

Rub iron, an iron guard on a wagon body, against which a wheel rubs when cramped too much. — Rub of the green Golf, anything happening to a ball in motion, such as its being deflected or stopped by any agency outside the match, or by the fore caddie. [ + ]

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement