Rub /(?)/

Rub

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Rubbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Rubbing

  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 T. 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.
  4. To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
    The smoothed plank, . . . New rubbed with balm.
  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.
  6. To hinder; to cross; to thwart. [R.]
    'T is the duke's pleasure, Whose disposition, all the world well knows, Will not be rubbed nor stopped.

Phrases & Compounds
To rub down
To clean by rubbing; to comb or curry; as, to down a horse
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
To burnish; to polish; to clean

Rub

v. i.
  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.

Phrases & Compounds
To rub along [or] on
to go on with difficulty; as, they manage, with strict economy, to rub along.

Rub

n.
  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.
    To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub.
    Upon this rub, the English ambassadors thought fit to demur.
    — Hayward.
    One knows not, certainly, what other rubs might have been ordained for us by a wise Providence.
    — W. Besant.
  3. Inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls; unevenness.
  4. Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
  5. Imperfection; failing; fault. [Obs.]
  6. A chance. [Obs.]
    Flight shall leave no Greek a rub.
  7. A stone, commonly flat, used to sharpen cutting tools; a whetstone; -- called also rubstone.

Phrases & Compounds
Rub iron
an iron guard on a wagon body, against which a wheel rubs when cramped too much.
Rub of the green
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.