|
To rub along or on, to go on with difficulty; as, they manage, with strict economy, to rub along. [Colloq.]
Rub
(Rub), n. [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. Shak.
To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub. Shak.
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. Shak.
4. Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
5. Imperfection; failing; fault. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
6. A chance. [Obs.]
Flight shall leave no Greek a rub. 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.
Ruba-dub
(Rub"a-dub) n. The sound of a drum when continuously beaten; hence, a clamorous, repeated
sound; a clatter.
The rubadub of the abolition presses. D. Webster.
Rubato
(||Ru*ba"to) a. [It.] Robbed; borrowed.
||Temple rubato. [It.] (Mus.) Borrowed time; — a term applied to a style of performance in which some
tones are held longer than their legitimate time, while others are proportionally curtailed.
Rubbage
(Rub"bage) n. Rubbish. [Obs.]
Rubber
(Rub"ber) n.
1. One who, or that which, rubs. Specifically: (a) An instrument or thing used in rubbing, polishing, or
cleaning. (b) A coarse file, or the rough part of a file. (c) A whetstone; a rubstone. (d) An eraser,
usually made of caoutchouc. (e) The cushion of an electrical machine. (f) One who performs massage,
especially in a Turkish bath. (g) Something that chafes or annoys; hence, something that grates on the
feelings; a sarcasm; a rub. Thackeray.
2. In some games, as whist, the odd game, as the third or the fifth, when there is a tie between the
players; as, to play the rubber; also, a contest determined by the winning of two out of three games; as,
to play a rubber of whist. Beaconsfield. "A rubber of cribbage." Dickens.
|
