rub

An act of rubbing.

Noun

An act of rubbing.
- Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.
A difficulty or problem.
- 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 - c. 1599–1602 (date written),...
- […] 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...
- '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;...
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
1. A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.
A loan.

Origin

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”)).

Verb

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.
To be rubbed against something.
- My shoes are beginning to rub.
To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
- meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing
- The smoothed plank, […] / New rubbed with balm. - 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...
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
- The whole business of our redemption is, in short, only to rub over the defaced copy of the creation - a. 1716, Robert South, Man Created in God's Image:
To hinder; to cross; to thwart.
- 'Tis the duke's pleasure, / Whose disposition, all the world well knows, / Will not be rubbed nor stopped. - c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
To touch the jack with the bowl.