Diccionario ingles.comDiccionario ingles.com
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Rubbing   /rˈəbɪŋ/   Listen
verb
Rub  v. t.  (past & past part. rubbed; pres. part. rubbing)  
1.
To subject (a body) to the action of something moving over its surface with pressure and friction, especially to the action of something moving back and forth; as, to rub the flesh with the hand; to rub wood with sandpaper. "It shall be expedient, after that body is cleaned, to rub the body with a coarse linen cloth."
2.
To move over the surface of (a body) with pressure and friction; to graze; to chafe; as, the boat rubs the ground.
3.
To cause (a body) to move with pressure and friction along a surface; as, to rub the hand over the body. "Two bones rubbed hard against one another."
4.
To spread a substance thinly over; to smear. "The smoothed plank,... New rubbed with balm."
5.
To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over; as, to rub up silver. "The whole business of our redemption is to rub over the defaced copy of the creation."
6.
To hinder; to cross; to thwart. (R.) "'T is the duke's pleasure, Whose disposition, all the world well knows, Will not be rubbed nor stopped."
To rub down.
(a)
To clean by rubbing; to comb or curry; as, to down a horse.
(b)
To reduce or remove by rubbing; as, to rub down the rough points.
To rub off, to clean anything by rubbing; to separate by friction; as, to rub off rust.
To rub out, to remove or separate by friction; to erase; to obliterate; as, to rub out a mark or letter; to rub out a stain.
To rub up.
(a)
To burnish; to polish; to clean.
(b)
To excite; to awaken; to rouse to action; as, to rub up the memory.



Rub  v. i.  
1.
To move along the surface of a body with pressure; to grate; as, a wheel rubs against the gatepost.
2.
To fret; to chafe; as, to rub upon a sore.
3.
To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.
To rub along or To rub on, to go on with difficulty; as, they manage, with strict economy, to rub along. (Colloq.)



Rubbing  v.  A. & n. from Rub, v.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Rubbing" Quotes from Famous Books



... willow, which he covered with a sort of rush, and lined with the skins of the goats he killed to satisfy his hunger, so long as his ammunition lasted. When it was likely to fail, he managed to strike a light by rubbing two pieces of pimento wood together. When he had quite exhausted his ammunition, he caught the goats as they ran, his agility had become so great by dint of constant exercise, that he scoured the woods, rocks, and hills, with a perfectly incredible speed. We had sufficient proof ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century • Jules Verne

... for the inner portion of the covering of the Stringybark-tree (q.v.). This is a dry finely fibrous substance, easily disintegrated by rubbing between the hands. It forms a valuable tinder for kindling a fire in the bush, and is largely employed for that purpose. It is not unlike the matted hair of a bull, and is reddish in colour, hence perhaps this nickname, which is common in ...
— A Dictionary of Austral English • Edward Morris

... realization of what had been done. He felt like Aladdin when he saw this building and was aware that he had put it up, but he could not bring himself to consciousness of having done it any more than if he had produced the same effect by rubbing a lamp. He could not feel the ownership of what he had given, and he could not feel that he had ...
— Human Traits and their Social Significance • Irwin Edman

... dawdling, and no running away from work on the part of the maids, thus close to the eye of the Senora at the upper end of the garden; and if they had known how picturesque they looked there, kneeling on the grass, lifting the dripping linen out of the water, rubbing it back and forth on the stones, sousing it, wringing it, splashing the clear water in each other's faces, they would have been content to stay at the washing day in and day out, for there was always somebody to look on from above. Hardly a day passed that the Senora ...
— Ramona • Helen Hunt Jackson

... indefatigable worker was breaking down, losing strength, losing heart, but still struggling on manfully to the last. It was noticed that he sat down to his work with a sorrowful, despondent look, and not, as had been his wont, rubbing his hands with the prospect of toil, and exulting in his almost superhuman capacity for labor. The ingratitude of the King, whom he had served only too well, gave him the final blow. Louis, with truculent insolence, reproached ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12 • Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com