Definition

1. Noun:

   • The act of rubbing: The action of moving one's hand or an object back and forth against a surface, often with pressure.
   • An obstacle or difficulty: A hindrance or a point of contention, often used in the phrase "there's the rub."

2. Verb:

   • To move one's hand or an object back and forth on a surface: To apply friction, pressure, or a circular motion, often to clean, polish, soothe, or apply a substance.
   • To cause friction or chafe: To scrape or grate against something, often causing irritation or wear.
   • To erase or remove by friction: To eliminate a mark by rubbing over it.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • He gave the table a quick rub with a cloth to remove the dust.
  • The plan is good, but funding is the rub. (Here, 'the rub' means the main difficulty.)

• Verb:

  • She will rub the lotion into her skin.
  • My new shoes rub against my heel and cause blisters.
  • You can rub out the pencil marks with an eraser.

Advanced Usage

• "to rub it in": To emphasize or remind someone of something unpleasant, especially a mistake or failure, in a way that annoys them.

  • I know I lost the game; you don't have to rub it in.

• "to rub shoulders/elbows with someone": To meet and spend time with famous or important people, often in a social context.

  • At the conference, she got to rub elbows with several industry leaders.

• "to rub someone up the wrong way": To irritate or annoy someone, often unintentionally, by one's manner or actions.

  • His arrogant attitude tends to rub people up the wrong way.

Variants and Related Words

• Rubber (n): 1. An elastic material. 2. A tool or object used for rubbing, such as an eraser.

  • Use a rubber to correct your mistake.

• Rubbing (n): 1. The action of the verb 'to rub'. 2. An impression of a raised design, made by placing paper over it and rubbing with a pencil or crayon.

  • She made a rubbing of the ancient tombstone.

• Rubdown (n): An act of rubbing someone's body, as in a massage or after exercise.

  • The athlete got a rubdown after the race.

Synonyms

• Scrub: To rub hard in order to clean.
• Polish: To rub a surface to make it smooth and shiny.
• Chafe: To rub in a way that causes soreness or irritation.
• Massage: To rub and knead muscles with the hands.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Rub along: To manage or cope, especially in a difficult situation, or to have a reasonably harmonious relationship.

  • They don't always agree, but they rub along well enough.

• Rub down: To dry, clean, or smooth something (or someone) by rubbing; to give a massage.

  • Rub the horse down after your ride.

• Rub off (on): 1. To be removed by rubbing. 2. (Of a quality or characteristic) To be transferred to someone through close association.

  • The mud will rub off easily when it dries.
  • Her enthusiasm for reading rubbed off on her younger brother.

• Rub out: To erase or remove something by rubbing; (slang) to kill or eliminate.

  • He rubbed out the wrong answer.

Related Idioms

• There's the rub: This is the problem or difficulty. (From Shakespeare's Hamlet).

  • I'd love to travel, but there's the rub—I have no money.

• Rub salt into the wound: To make a bad situation even worse for someone.

  • Losing the match was bad enough, but their mocking comments just rubbed salt into the wound.

Noun

1. the act of rubbing or wiping
   • he gave the hood a quick rub
2. an unforeseen obstacle

Verb

1. scrape or rub as if to relieve itching
   • Don't scratch your insect bites!
2. cause friction
   • my sweater scratches
3. move over something with pressure
   • rub my hands
   • rub oil into her skin