rub

plural rubs

1. An act of rubbing.

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

2. 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), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

   2 more examples

   […] 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 the rub.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

   '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; but, hang it, you are young; you can't get experience—at least, so I've found it—without paying for it. […]'

   1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

   Synonyms: hitch, hiccup, catch, kink, glitch, snag

3. archaicA quip or sarcastic remark.
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

   1. A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.
6. UKslanggovernmentA loan.

present singular third person rubs · participle present rubbing · participle past rubbed · past rubbed

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

   I rubbed the cloth over the glass.

   5 more examples

   The cat rubbed itself against my leg.

   I rubbed my hands together for warmth.

   I couldn't rub the stain from the tablecloth.

   You ſhould rub your Teeth and whole Mouth and Gums, the Pallate and Tongue, with a clean courſe cloth, rubbing off the ſlime which groweth upon them in the night.

   1680, T. K., The Kitchin-Phyſician; Or, a Guide for Good-Housewives in Maintaining Their Families in Health. […] , How to cleanſe the Teeth, and keep them ſound, page 44

   […] Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo be rubbed against something.

   My shoes are beginning to rub.

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

   meat rubbed with spices before barbecuing

   1 more example

   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 Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

4. datedTo move or pass with difficulty.

   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

   1 more example

   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

6. 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, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

7. transitivebowlsTo touch the jack with the bowl.

plural RUBs

1. biochemistryAny of a group of proteins similar to ubiquitin
2. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of rich urban biker.