Meaning of rub In English

• 0 to press or be pressed against something with a circular or up-and-down repeated movement:

  • She yawned and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

  • He rubbed (at) the stain on his trousers and made it worse.

  • We rubbed some polish into the surface of the wood.

  • She gently rubbed the ointment in.

  • First rub the baking tray well with butter.

  • [ + obj + adj ] Alice rubbed the blackboard clean for the teacher.

  • Your cat keeps on rubbing itself (up) against my leg.

  • She was rubbing her hands (together) at the thought of winning.

  • The branches rubbed against each other in the wind.

  • The chair legs have rubbed holes in the carpet.

  • My new shoes are rubbing (against/on my toe) and now I've got blisters.

  • These marks will never rub off (= be cleaned off).

  • Alice rubbed the sums off (= cleaned them off) the blackboard for the teacher.

• 1 the act of rubbing something:

  • He gave her hair a good rub to dry it.

• 2 the particular problem that makes a situation difficult or impossible:

  • You can't get a job unless you have experience, but there's the rub, you can't get experience unless you have a job.

• 3 to press or be pressed against something with a repeated circular, side to side, or up and down movement:

  • [ T ] I rubbed the place where I bumped my head.

  • [ T ] If you rub linseed oil into the wood, it will protect it.

• 4 The rub is something that prevents success:

  • She got good reviews for her original cooking, but the rub was that people wanted very traditional dishes.