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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rub.

An act of rubbing.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹʌb/Received-Pronunciation, US/ɹʊb/Ireland, Northern-England

  1. An act of rubbing.

    Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.

  2. A difficulty or problem.

  3. A quip or sarcastic remark.

    archaic

  4. In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course.

  5. Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing.

    a heat rub intended for muscular strains

  6. Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing. A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.

  7. A loan.

    UK · slang
Where this word comes from

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/ɹʌb/Received-Pronunciation, US/ɹʊb/Ireland, Northern-England

  1. To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction.

    transitive
    I rubbed the cloth over the glass.
    The cat rubbed itself against my leg.

  2. To be rubbed against something.

    intransitive
    My shoes are beginning to rub.

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

    transitive
    meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing

  4. To move or pass with difficulty.

    dated
    to rub through woods, as huntsmen

  5. To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over.

    to rub up silver

  6. To hinder; to cross; to thwart.

  7. To touch the jack with the bowl.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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”)).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.