Rub | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Rŭb, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. RUBBED; p. pr. & vb. n. RUBBING.] [W. rhwbiaw, Gael. rub, N. H. Ger. reiben, O. H. Ger. riban, L. Ger. riwen, wriwen, D. wrijven, Dan. rive, Sw. rifva, Icel. rífa. Cf. RIVE.]

Sense 1. To move with pressure or friction; as, to rub the hand over the surface of a body; hence, to wipe; to clean; to scour.

Look how she rubs her hands! Shak.

Sense 2. To spread a substance thinly over the surface of; to smear.

*Their straw-built citadel New rubbed with balm.* Milton.

Sense 3. To polish; to retouch; — with over.

The whole business of our redemption is to rub over the defaced copy of the creation. South.

Sense 4. To tease; to fret; to annoy; to reproach; to thwart. [Rare.]

*’Tis the duke’s pleasure, Whose disposition, all the world well knows, Will not be rubbed nor stopped.* Shak.

To rub down, to clean by rubbing; to comb or curry, as a horse. — To rub off, to clean any thing by rubbing; to separate by friction; as, to rub off rust. — To rub out. (a.) To remove or separate by friction; to erase; to obliterate; as, to rub out a mark or letter; to rub out a stain. (b.) Hence, to remove, as by death; to kill. [Vulgar, U. S.] — 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.

Rŭb, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To move along the surface of a body with pressure; to grate; as, a wheel rubs against the gate-post.

To fret; to chafe; as, to rub upon a sore.
To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.

Rŭb, n.

noun

n. [W. rhub. See supra.]

The act of rubbing; friction.
That which rubs, or tends to hinder or obstruct motion or progress; collision, hindrance; obstruction; especially, a difficulty or obstruction hard to overcome; a pinch.

Now every rub is smoothed in our way. Shak. To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub. Shak. Upon this rub, the English embassadors thought fit to demur. Hayward.

Inequality of ground that hinders the motion of a bowl. [Obs.] Shak.
Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
Imperfection; failing; fault. [Obs.]

A gentleman, excepting some few rubs, Fraught as deep with noble and brave parts As any he alive. Beau. & Fl. 6. A chance. [Obs.]

Flight shall leave no Greek a rub. Chapman. 7. A stone, usually some kind of sandstone, used to sharpen instruments; a whetstone; — called also rubstone.