rub
/ɹʌb/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.97 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A difficulty or problem.
noun
In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course.
Example Sentences
- "Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out."
- "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"
- "[…] 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."
- "'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. […]'"
- "a heat rub intended for muscular strains"
- "I rubbed the cloth over the glass."
Etymology
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”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: rubben, *rubbōną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹʌb/
- British English: /ɹʌb/