rub along

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

1. To survive or get by with some difficulty.

   Mrs. Dinsmore has experienced 'love in a cottage,' and probably has no very idyllic recollections; she knows what it is to rub along with one servant, or even none, and keep up appearances and worry about the next month's rent

   1905, Arthur Stanwood Pier, The Ancient Grudge, Chapter 11

2. To get along, to have an amicable relationship.

   Though he had at first to rub along in coarse society, he always maintained his inward refinement; he liked the table in the office to be of polished wood, and everything to be on a gentlemanly scale

   1922, Nikolai Gogol, translated by Constance Garnett, Dead Souls—A Poem, Chapter XI

   Synonyms: rub on