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Rub   Listen
noun
Rub  n.  
1.
The act of rubbing; friction.
2.
That which rubs; that which tends to hinder or obstruct motion or progress; hindrance; obstruction, an impediment; especially, a difficulty or obstruction hard to overcome; a pinch. "Every rub is smoothed on our way." "To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub." "Upon this rub, the English ambassadors thought fit to demur." "One knows not, certainly, what other rubs might have been ordained for us by a wise Providence."
3.
Inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls; unevenness.
4.
Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
5.
Imperfection; failing; fault. (Obs.)
6.
A chance. (Obs.) "Flight shall leave no Greek a rub."
7.
A stone, commonly flat, used to sharpen cutting tools; a whetstone; called also rubstone.
Rub iron, an iron guard on a wagon body, against which a wheel rubs when cramped too much.
Rub of the green (Golf), anything happening to a ball in motion, such as its being deflected or stopped by any agency outside the match, or by the fore caddie.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Rub" Quotes from Famous Books



... that disturbed the quiet of the afternoon in Mrs. Francis's sitting room was the regular rub-rub of the wash-board ...
— Sowing Seeds in Danny • Nellie L. McClung

... can put the cornice into communication with the ground. With a thick hair-pencil I sweep away the surplus climbers; with a big brush, one that leaves no smell behind it—for this might afterwards prove confusing—I carefully rub down the vase and get rid of every thread which the caterpillars have laid on the march. When these preparations are finished, a curious ...
— The Wonders of Instinct • J. H. Fabre

... other dull and slow; and you put before them Jullien's chalk studies of heads—etudes a deux crayons—and desire them to be copied. The dull child will slowly do your bidding, blacken his paper and rub it white again, and patiently and painfully, in the course of three or four years, attain to the performance of a chalk head, not much worse than his original, but still of less value than the paper it is drawn upon. But the clever child will not, or will only by force, consent to this discipline. ...
— Lectures on Architecture and Painting - Delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853 • John Ruskin

... gum tree, which attains the height of 100 feet. A fluid juice exudes from incisions in the trunk and hardens into a yellow resin. It is said the hogs in Jamaica when wounded rub the injured part against the tree so as to cover it with the gum, which possesses vulnerary properties; hence its name. The resin has been employed as a substitute for copaiba balsam, and plasters are made ...
— Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture • William Saunders

... lovely than a church; bouncing Junos were never weary of sitting in the chairs and contemplating in the glass their own bland images; and I have seen one lady strip up her dress, and, with cries of wonder and delight, rub herself bare-breeched upon the ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 18 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... made, and asked had they brought the powder or other drug to put Carrizales to sleep. At the same time, he spoke to them respecting the master-key. They told him that on the following night they would bring the powder, or else an ointment of such virtue that one had only to rub the patient's wrists and temples with it to throw him into such a profound sleep, that he would not wake for two days, unless the anointed parts were well washed with vinegar. As to the key, he had only to give them the impression in ...
— The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... further attention to his words, the doctor decided upon action. Would it rub against his leg, too? He would take it by ...
— Three John Silence Stories • Algernon Blackwood

... to get rid of some warts. Pewt says if you hook a piece of pork after dark, rub it on the warts and say arum erum irum orum urum and nurum 3 times turn round twice and throw the pork thru a window, then the warts will all be gone the next day. me and Beany is going ...
— The Real Diary of a Real Boy • Henry A. Shute

... indomitable heavy gun of theirs, re-supplied with gunners, began again; again the Naval guns, on a tested range, crack their shrapnel right in its face; the batteries all open and soon the whole orchestra is thundering again. That dreadful muttering, the 'rub-a-dub, a-dub-a-dub, a-dub-a-dub' (say it as fast as you can) of the rifles keeps on; through all the noise of fire, the sharp, quick bark of the Boer Maxim-Nordenfelt sounds at intervals and the mingled smoke and dust lies in a haze along ...
— With Rimington • L. March Phillipps

... harder to wipe out seven men than three, and I don't think they will attack us openly; they know well enough that in a fair fight two red-skins, if not three, are likely to go down for each white they rub out. But they will bide their time: red-skins are a wonderful hand at that; time is nothing to them, and they would not mind hanging about us for weeks and weeks if they can but get us at last. However, we will talk it all over when the Indians join us. I don't think there is any chance ...
— In The Heart Of The Rockies • G. A. Henty

... mamma, Rose has enough for both; you must rub us together, as they do light red and Prussian blue, to make a neutral tint. But oh, what a ribbon! oh, mother, what a love of a ribbon! Rose! Rose! look at this ribbon! And oh, those buttons! Fred, I do believe they are for your new coat! Oh, and those ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. I, No. 1, Nov. 1857 • Various

... bank she began to dry him with her handkerchief; but it was soaked through at once, and the boy suggested that they should rub him with their hands. So Drusie placed him tenderly on the grass, and they rubbed him until their arms ached; and no doubt Jumbo ached too, for they all rubbed with ...
— A Tale of the Summer Holidays • G. Mockler

... 1 lb. glucose, 2 pints water in the usual way to the degree of ball 250, by thermometer; remove it from the fire and rub the sugar against the side of the pan until thick and white; stir it all together, then fill the moulds through the runner. Too much sugar must not be boiled at one time, or it will set before it can ...
— The Candy Maker's Guide - A Collection of Choice Recipes for Sugar Boiling • Fletcher Manufacturing Company

... figure on the bench opposite opened its eyes, stared at her; then went to sleep again. A prowling cat paused to rub itself against her foot, but meeting no response, passed on. Through an open window, somewhere near, filtered the sound of a child's ...
— All Roads Lead to Calvary • Jerome K. Jerome

... I chiv'd was as fat as a pig, anyway," said the crooked-mouthed murderer, as he attempted to rub out the guilty stains with a dirty piece of rag. "The blood spurted all over me as soon as I ...
— The Tale of Timber Town • Alfred Grace

... Cappy replied magnanimously, "I'll not rub it into you. I suppose I'm far from generous, bawling you out like this. Perhaps, when you're my age and have a lot of mental and moral cripples nip you and draw blood as often as they've drawn it on me you'll be a better judge than I of men worthy of the weight of responsibility. ...
— The Go-Getter • Peter B. Kyne

... segments are supported at both ends by solid insulating disks; but they are insulated from each other by the air spaces between them, where the brushes rub upon them. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 392, July 7, 1883 • Various

... "but they are good and strong; and as soon as I get home I shall rub them all off clean with sand paper and then have them varnished, so as to make them look very bright and nice; and then I shall keep them for a curiosity. I would rather have this pair, for then I can tell people that I bought ...
— Rollo in Switzerland • Jacob Abbott

... God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety,—all this rust of life, ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. It is better than emery. Every man ought to rub himself with it. A man without mirth is like a wagon without springs, in which one is caused disagreeably to jolt by every pebble ...
— Many Thoughts of Many Minds - A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age • Various

... author observes, with great good sense, though in terms somewhat homely,—addressing, it is to be noticed, his remarks to gentlemen,—"the inconvenience of riding on the left of the lady, is, that if you ride near, to give her any assistance, you are liable to rub, or incommode, the lady's legs, and alarm her; and the spur is liable to catch, or tear, the lady's habit: if the roads are dirty, your horse, likewise, bespatters the lady's habit. On the right hand of ...
— The Young Lady's Equestrian Manual • Anonymous

... against the lawfulness of the ceremonies I draw from the superstition of them. I cannot marvel enough how Dr Mortoune and Dr Burges could think to rub the superstition upon Non-conformists, whom they set forth as fancying their abstinence from the ceremonies to be a singular piece of service done to God, placing religion in the not using of them, and teaching men to abstain from them for conscience' sake. Dr Ames(435) hath given a sufficient ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie

... made for that purpose, ashes being mixed with it to hinder it from burning; and they keep continually stirring it, that it may take only the red colour which they want. When it has taken that colour, they remove the ashes, rub it well, and then {203} put it in a mortar with the ashes of dried stalks of kidney beans, and a little water; they then beat it gently, which quickly breaks the husk, and turns the whole into meal. This meal, after being pounded, is dried in the sun, and after ...
— History of Louisisana • Le Page Du Pratz

... the weeping family. The young ladies ceased crying, stared wildly, and then, to my utter bewilderment, broke into hysterical laughter. For the moment I thought they had gone mad. It was only when in my perplexity I put up my hand to rub my head, that I came upon the cause of the strange hilarity. For years afterward the thought of it had the same effect upon me that the cabbage-leaf produced so unexpectedly in that ...
— The Making of an American • Jacob A. Riis

... your permission, I'll sit up nearer to the gentlemen of the jury, for it hurts my legs less to rub my calves against the bench than it ...
— Lincoln's Yarns and Stories • Alexander K. McClure

... Did he not spring from the earth?—from clay—dirt—mould—mud—garden soil, or composition of some sort, for theological geology (you must look in the dictionary for these words) has not precisely defined what; and is it not the basest impudence of pride to seek to wash and scrub and rub away the original spot? Is he not the most natural man who in vulgar meaning is the dirtiest? Depend upon it, there is a fine natural religion in dirt; and yet we see men and women strive to appear as if they were compounded of the roses and lilies in Paradise instead of the fine rich ...
— History of English Humour, Vol. 2 (of 2) • Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange

... the Green Park; with paper velvet-like, and golden pen ruby-headed, upon rose-wood desk inlaid with ivory, you may find that these essays have been transcribed: you will grovel, you will slaver, you will rub your nose in the pebbles, like a salmon at spawning-time, when this very immortal work shall come out, clothed in purple morocco, our arms emblazoned on the covers, and coroneted on the back, after the manner of publication of the works of royal and noble authors. Then, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 - Vol. 53, January, 1843 • Various

... frequent practice, in the East, gently to rub and knead the feet, for the purpose of inducing sleep or ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I • Anonymous

... Extract of Beef, two tablespoons of butter, one tablespoon of flour, one teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper, one half teaspoon of sugar, one quart of milk or half milk and half cream. Rinse the peas, add some water and boil until soft, then rub through a colander. Add Armour's Extract of Beef to hot water and peas, making one quart in all. Melt the butter and add the flour, then gradually the hot soup. Cook until smooth, add the seasoning, and the milk and cream ...
— Armour's Monthly Cook Book, Volume 2, No. 12, October 1913 - A Monthly Magazine of Household Interest • Various

... yeoman's service that day, and at sundown they all went back to their ship, very grumpy and dissatisfied, returning no wiser than when they'd come. Iosefo held a service afterwards to rub it in, and the king spoke at it, and likewise the chiefs, and so in our different ways we all pulled together for the common good. They had quite a jollification that night on the schooner, singing songs and playing some kind of a hurdy-gurdy ...
— Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas • Lloyd Osbourne

... on the stupidity of his remarks. I do not think I ever appreciated the meaning of two words until I knew Irvine—the verb, loaf, and the noun, oaf; between them, they complete his portrait. He could lounge, and wriggle, and rub himself against the wall, and grin, and be more in everybody's way than any other two people that I ever set my eyes on. Nothing that he did became him; and yet you were conscious that he was one of your own race, that his mind was cumbrously at work, revolving ...
— The Silverado Squatters • Robert Louis Stevenson

... during the year. There was a violent race to the water, and the servant who got there first was rewarded by a drink of something stronger. Again, early that morning one |313| peasant would clean out another's stable, often at some distance from his home, feed, water, and rub down the horses, and then be entertained to breakfast. In olden times after service on St. Stephen's Day there was a race home on horseback, and it was supposed that he who arrived first would be the first to get his harvest in. But the most remarkable ...
— Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan • Clement A. Miles

... were leiterwagen returning with the chests of clothes and the now empty meal-sacks; but more than this, there were four pretty little lads, each leading the bonniest, cleanest little calf ever seen. What, however, made Onkel Johann rub his hands with glee and give a big chuckle was the sight of a great black ox, wearing, instead of the usual verdant wreath round its neck, a real cow's crown. It was as ludicrous in his eyes as the sight of some sober gentleman in a Parisian bonnet would be in ours. Such jokes ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII. No. 31. October, 1873. • Various

... boards, and it is a little surprising that seventy-four years should have elapsed, after the publication of the first English translation, before 'Don Quixote' received the distinction of dramatization. Was it, indeed, a distinction? There's the rub. The dramatist was Thomas d'Urfey; and what could be looked for from that free-speaking worthy? The original is not without a certain breadth in certain passages, and what Cervantes made broad D'Urfey might be trusted to make broader. That, again, was only according to the practice ...
— By-ways in Book-land - Short Essays on Literary Subjects • William Davenport Adams

... to him, 'Get up, my master, and bathe in the stream!' and when the man had bathed it said again, 'Now rub yourself well with earth, and rub your teeth well with sand to make them bright and shining.' And when this was done it said, 'The sun has gone down behind the hills; it is time for us to go': so it went and brought the clothes from the back ...
— The Violet Fairy Book • Various

... of flowers who sees the hybrid varieties of Clematis in bloom is sure to want to grow them. They are very beautiful, it is true, and few plants are more satisfactory when well grown. But—there's the rub—to grow them well. ...
— Amateur Gardencraft - A Book for the Home-Maker and Garden Lover • Eben E. Rexford

... are so happy to see me, dear," said Aunt Lu. "Oh, don't mind about your dress," she went on, as she saw Sue trying to rub away some of the muddy spots with her tiny handkerchief. "Your mother will know you couldn't ...
— Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue • Laura Lee Hope

... lather, made as directed in article Head, Soaping, and spread it gently all over the stomach and heart. Repeat this six or seven times, keeping the patient warm in bed. Then, after drying, do the same thing to the back. This does immense good. For the general skin stimulation, rub over with the mixture for NIGHT SWEATS (see). The skin is rubbed over with this five or six times, once ...
— Papers on Health • John Kirk

... suppose," he replied. "When it comes to knowledge of Russian movements," he went on to explain, "that's Sobieska's department, mind you, but somehow Josef is always hours ahead of him through some source of his own. Naturally Sobieska takes the chance to rub a miscue in on ...
— Trusia - A Princess of Krovitch • Davis Brinton

... had a battalion of the Fortieth out along the prairie slopes for over two hours every morning, drilling, drilling, drilling, until officers and men came double-quicking in at 11.30, exuding profanity and perspiration from every pore, but owning up to it, after a rub down and a rest and a hearty dinner, that old Alex was a boss soldier who knew how to take the conceit out of the cavalry, even if he did nearly have to run his bandy-legs off, and the lean shanks of his men, in doing it. The cavalry major was far less energetic. He sent ...
— Under Fire • Charles King

... mortar with a little lobster coral and four ounces of fresh butter, thoroughly bruising the whole together so as to make a fine paste. Put this in a stewpan and set it over a slow fire to simmer for about five minutes, then rub it through a sieve with considerable pressure into a basin containing ice water. As soon as the colored crawfish butter is become firmly set, through the coldness of the water, take it out and put it into a small basin and set in the refrigerator ...
— Bohemian San Francisco - Its restaurants and their most famous recipes—The elegant art of dining. • Clarence E. Edwords

... whereon stood a horseman of brass. In his hand he held a lance with a broad head, in brightness like blinding leven, whereon was graven, "O thou that comest unto me, if thou know not the way to the City of Brass, rub the hand of this rider and he will turn round and presently stop. Then take the direction whereto he faceth and fare fearless, for it will bring thee, without hardship, to the city aforesaid."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton

... bows and looked over to see his white body far below in the clear water, and then he came up again to rub his eyes, pant, and hold on by ...
— Devon Boys - A Tale of the North Shore • George Manville Fenn

... years in——" but even as he spoke the old man felt how very near the end had come, and summoned all his dying strength to say, "As soon as the breath is out of me, rub me all over with that liquid, and I shall come to ...
— The Elixir of Life • Honore de Balzac

... the flyin' rings until she got too hefty," his companion explained. "Now she takes care of the wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don't get lost in the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I'll give you a rub-down ...
— Anything Once • Douglas Grant

... the better; you'll be asked to-morrow. Now, if you'll take my advice you won't give it; if you do, you'll simply be turned adrift into the town to shift for yourselves and find quarters where you can. If you've got money, and plenty of it, you might manage to rub along pretty well for a time; but when your cash is gone where are you? Why, simply nowheres. Now, this is a roughish berth for gentlemen like you, I'll allow; but within the last few days we've ...
— The Rover's Secret - A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba • Harry Collingwood

... day per gun. But never mind. If we do get the 17 rounds we shall be infinitely better off than we have been: "and so say all of us!" Putting this cable together with yesterday's we all of us feel that the home folk are beginning to yawn and rub their eyes and that ere long they ...
— Gallipoli Diary, Volume I • Ian Hamilton

... gold round upon the covers, and then apply a knuckle to the gilding; the fire appears everywhere upon the gold like a flash of lightning; not upon the leather, nor if you touch the leather instead of the gold. We rub our tubes with buckskin and observe always to keep the same side to the tube and never to sully the tube by handling; thus they work readily and easily without the least fatigue, especially if kept in ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, v. 13 • Various

... and injuries committed on, us by both the belligerent parties, from, the beginning of 1793 to this day, and still continuing, cannot now be wiped off by engaging in war with one of them. As there is great reason to expect this is the last campaign in Europe, it would certainly be better for us to rub through this year, as we have done through the four preceding ones, and hope that, on the restoration of peace, we may be able to establish some plan for our foreign connections more likely to secure our peace, ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... way we can make anything," he said. "If I had a canoe we could push up the river a good deal faster than overland, but I ain't got one—and that's the rub." ...
— Colorado Jim • George Goodchild

... went to and fro—from the reception-room to the bed-chamber, and back again—he smiled, he bowed, and rubbed his hands. But the new-comers, who had not come to his house to see him smile and rub his hands, began to say, in very audible whispers, "Ah, well, do people pass the whole night here looking at each ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXIX. - March, 1843, Vol. LIII. • Various

... hated stiff ceremony Her heart failed her when she thought of sitting down night after night to such an interminable meal. Worse still, she had taken a dislike to her host. Her likes and dislikes were always characterized by Highland intensity, and something in her aunt's husband seemed to rub her the wrong way. Mr. Fane-Smith was a retired Indian judge, a man much respected in the religious world, and in his way a really good man; but undoubtedly his sympathies were narrow and his creed hard. Closely intwined with much true and active Christianity, ...
— We Two • Edna Lyall

... the grinning Ethiop, whose teeth looked like a double row of pearls set in a border of carnelian, "my mistress be a queen: I do rub the dust on thy ugly nose if that red tongue wag more, for make bad speech of her. Go ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) • John Roby

... stalk of celery, and two or three sprigs of parsley. Fry in butter, add two tablespoonfuls of salt, six pepper-corns, a bay-leaf, three cloves, two quarts of [Page 10] boiling water, and two cupfuls of vinegar or sour wine. Boil for fifteen minutes, strain, and cool. Rub the fish with salt ...
— How to Cook Fish • Olive Green

... centuries and the insight which eighteen hundred years' study of Christian principles have developed. But I shall never get over a sense of anachronism, of being out of time, in arguing at this late day a claim for so fundamental a thing as human freedom. I rub my eyes to make sure that I have not been in a Rip Van Winkle slumber for a few centuries, and am not coming before a nineteenth century audience with an untimely protest against a wrong long since abolished, and of which children ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... hot water, and you will have a drink that is better than any tea, and destroys the 'gravel.' Walnut-tree bark is a splendid emetic; and mountain flax, which grows everywhere on the Cotswolds, is uncommon good for the 'innards.' 'Ettles [nettles] is good for stings. Damp them and rub them on to a 'wapse' sting, and they will take away the pain directly." On my suggesting that stinging nettles were rather a desperate remedy, he assured me that "they acted as a blister, and counteracted the 'wapse.' Now, I'll ...
— A Cotswold Village • J. Arthur Gibbs

... herself; "the child is a lady by instinct. It wasn't easy for her to say it, either; she's a shy little thing. Well, if she has the instinct, the rest can be added. It's easy enough to polish a piece of mahogany, but you may rub all day at a pine stick and not make ...
— A Little Country Girl • Susan Coolidge

... the air vocal with his joyous barks, until anxious to distinguish himself, and perhaps thinking that Mr. Brown was not getting his share of the reception, he suddenly welcomed that gentleman with a slight nip on the seat of his pantaloons, that caused him to utter a fierce oath, and to rub the ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes

... often delivered to us, like wheat in full ears, to the end we should rub them out before we eat them, and take pains about them, before we have ...
— The Riches of Bunyan • Jeremiah Rev. Chaplin

... rub enough," the Alsatian advised, "il faut frotter bien!" A number of fellow-captives were regarding my toilet with surprise and satisfaction. I discovered in the mirror an astounding beard and a good layer of dirt. I worked busily, counselled by several voices, censured by the Alsatian, ...
— The Enormous Room • Edward Estlin Cummings

... earth. As to Shakspeare, M. Michelet detects in him a most extraordinary mare's nest. It is this: he does "not recollect to have seen the name of God" in any part of his works. On reading such words, it is natural to rub one's eyes, and suspect that all one has ever seen in this world may have been a pure ocular delusion. In particular, I begin myself to suspect that the word "la gloire" never occurs in any Parisian journal. "The great English nation," says M. Michelet, "has one immense profound ...
— Miscellaneous Essays • Thomas de Quincey

... qualities of race, there are pedigrees of character, which it is never prudent to neglect. Franklin quotes with approval the advice of a wise man to choose a wife 'out of a bunch,' as girls brought up together improve each other by emulation, learn mutual self-sacrifice and forbearance, rub off their angularities, and are not suffered to develop overweening self-conceit. A family where the ruling taste is vulgar, where the standard of honour is low, where extravagance and self-indulgence and want of order habitually prevail, creates an atmosphere which it needs a strong character ...
— The Map of Life - Conduct and Character • William Edward Hartpole Lecky

... Be as natural as you can. I mean, if he just knocks lightly and looks in, be asleep. Don't overdo the snoring. But if he makes a hell of a noise, you'll have to wake up and rub your eyes, and wonder what on earth he's doing in your room at all. You know ...
— The Red House Mystery • A. A. Milne

... there was a spare bed in her 'ouse, so there was—which it wasn't as long as could be wished, considerin' Mister Boone's height; but that could be put right by knocking out the foot-board, and two cheers, so it could—and as long she had one copper to rub on another; no, though she was to be flayed alive for her hospitality. By which round statement, Mrs Craw was understood to imply a severe rebuke to Mrs Grab—another greengrocer over the way (and a widow)—who had been heard to say, ...
— Fighting the Flames • R.M. Ballantyne

... the rub—IF we had SHOT, as well as powder for our guns; IF we had not only MEN but MEAT. Of the former commodity we had only three rounds for each piece. Of the latter, upon my sacred honor, to feed 126 souls, we ...
— Burlesques • William Makepeace Thackeray

... fated, however, to rub elbows with Trouble wherever she went and whatever she did. She ran the Kremlin past the rear of Walky Dexter's place and saw Walky himself currying Josephus and his mate on the stable floor. The man waved his currycomb at her and grinned. But his well-known grimace ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long

... rub his thigh and to stare. These things were very surprising. "And they're telling me," he said, "that Luke ...
— The Wild Geese • Stanley John Weyman

... of the children began to rub his eyes, and the mother exclaimed—it was so late! The children had stayed awake because of the excitement, but now they must go to bed. She bundled them out of the room, and presently came back, bearing a glass of milk ...
— They Call Me Carpenter • Upton Sinclair

... this world that man in stress and strain, in astonishment and fear, should suddenly fall back to savagery and barbarity. I would rather that this thrilled and thrilling globe, shorn of all life, should in its cycles rub the wheel, the parent star, on which the light should fall as fruitlessly as falls the gaze of love on death, than to have this infamous doctrine of eternal punishment true; rather than have this infamous selfishness of a heaven for a few and a hell for the ...
— Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I • Robert Green Ingersoll

... Grettir's occupation. As the autumn advanced Asmund wanted more warmth, and was constantly telling Grettir to rub his back hard. It was the custom in those days for people to have large rooms with long fires in them in their houses, where men sat by the fire in the evenings on benches, sleeping afterwards at the side away from the fires. By day the ...
— Grettir The Strong - Grettir's Saga • Unknown

... eorum et ora deo sanctificata polluantur cantilenis teatralibus turpibus et secularibus: et cum sint cantatores, provideant sibi notis convenientibus, secundum quod dictamina requirunt."—Lib. Rub. ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 54, November 9, 1850 • Various

... walk round the commercial traveller, and look at him well. Don't forget his overcoat, olive green, nor his cloak with its morocco collar, nor the striped blue cotton shirt. In this queer figure—so original that we cannot rub it out—how many divers personalities we come across! In the first place, what an acrobat, what a circus, what a battery, all in one, is the man himself, his vocation, and his tongue! Intrepid mariner, he plunges ...
— Parisians in the Country - The Illustrious Gaudissart, and The Muse of the Department • Honore de Balzac

... and time proved a bit slow. I remember coming to the conclusion that perhaps the people I'd left behind weren't so utterly unreasonable after all. I fancy it's a rather sure sign that when you can't rub along with anybody, the trouble isn't ...
— The Spanish Chest • Edna A. Brown

... the slave Suliman. Yesterday, after a sharp run across a field, perhaps in the vain hope of escaping the tormentors, he dismounted, and the mare followed him, walking like a lamb. He then sat down to switch away the flies, and rub her legs inwards and outwards. To-day he had taken off his Bedawi kefieh, or bright-coloured small shawl, from around his head, and suspended it between her legs, then, as he rode along, was continually switching between her ears with a long bunch ...
— Byeways in Palestine • James Finn

... the morning and immediately take a cold hand bath. For this purpose a quart or two of water and a common hand towel only are required. After bathing, rub the surface of the body with the dry hand or a crash towel, and continue the friction until the skin is red and a reaction is established. Do not excuse yourself from following these hygienic suggestions. ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce

... solvent for a few minutes and then run that off for the articles to dry. The application of solvents to window cleaning, also, would be a possible thing but for the primitive construction of our windows, which prevents anything but a painful rub, rub, rub, with the leather. A friend of mine in domestic service tells me that this rubbing is to get the window dry, and this seems to be the general impression, but I think it incorrect. The water is not an adequate solvent, and enough cannot be used under existing ...
— Anticipations - Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon - Human life and Thought • Herbert George Wells

... There's the revolutionary rub. The Irish farmers make up the largest body of workers in Ireland. The Irish farmer sweated and bled for his land. Would he yield it now for nationalization? I put the question up to William O'Brien, ...
— What's the Matter with Ireland? • Ruth Russell

... rub it on your chest and call it goose grease, because the moral effect will be the ...
— You Can Search Me • Hugh McHugh

... the rub," he answered. "Yeardley is the most obstinate man of my acquaintance. He who at his first coming, beside a great deal of worth in his person, brought only his sword hath grown to be as very a Sir Oracle among us as ever I saw. It's 'Sir George says this,' and ...
— To Have and To Hold • Mary Johnston

... the firm line of Rhoda's lip as she bore down upon the destructive urchin. She could almost hear the bright challenging tone as Rhoda would say: 'Now, Atlantic, let us see what we can do! Cut off the chewed edges with these scissors, paste these thin pieces of paper over the torn places, and rub the card with this crust of bread. A new one? Certainly NOT, ...
— Marm Lisa • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... being in such close contact as to be short only of that which is consequent upon chemical combination. At such moments they may acquire by their mutual induction (1740.) and partial discharge to each other, very exalted opposite states, and when, the moment after, they are by the progress of the rub removed from each other's vicinity, they will retain this state if both bodies be insulators, and exhibit them upon ...
— Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 • Michael Faraday

... be very finely ground in an agate mortar, it is often advisable to mix with a little pure alcohol and rub until free from grit; dry at 100 C. and mix well ...
— A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. • Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

... animal may suffer when badly infested by this parasite may result in marked unthriftiness. Young and old animals that are not well cared for suffer most. The biting louse may bite through the superficial layer of the skin, and cause the animal to bite and rub the part. This irritation to the skin prevents the animal from becoming rested, and after a time seriously interferes ...
— Common Diseases of Farm Animals • R. A. Craig, D. V. M.

... Mrs. Haggarty; and Edwards, putting on a resigned air, and giving her arm and face a further rub with her apron, held out her arm to Mrs. Dennis, ...
— Men's Wives • William Makepeace Thackeray

... gashes upon each cheek, and rub the wounds with salt and a kind of porridge (asida) to produce proud flesh; thus every female slave, captured by the slave-hunters, is marked to prove her identity, and to improve her charms. Each tribe has its peculiar fashion as ...
— The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile • Sir Samuel White Baker

... sculptors would hardly choose as subjects the lower portion of women whose legs have been over-developed by a training so arduous that it is found almost impossible to get English girls to go through with it. But—and here's the rub—the dancer has a respect for her craft, which, like the actor's devotion to his art, tends to produce erroneous ideas, and this is why the ...
— Our Stage and Its Critics • "E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette"

... the rub. Only a few years ago men competent to teach the history and philosophy of music in a manner which a college or university could consistently tolerate, were almost non-existent, and even today many colleges are out of sheer necessity giving over ...
— College Teaching - Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College • Paul Klapper

... was attracted by Ghritachi's fair form. He set himself more earnestly to the task of making a fire for suppressing his emotion, but in spite of all his efforts his vital seed came out. That best of regenerate ones, however, O king, continued to rub his stick without feeling any scruples for what had happened. From the seed that fell, was born a son unto him, called Suka. In consequence of his circumstance attending his birth, he came to be called by name of Suka. Indeed, it was thus that great ascetic that foremost of Rishis and highest ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... at the complexion of his sable companion. They could not believe it was natural, and tried to rub off the imaginary dye with their hands. As the African bore all this with characteristic good-humor, displaying at the same time his rows of ivory teeth, they were prodigiously delighted.13 The animals were no less above their comprehension; and, ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott

... means a certain small outgo from the Assembly," was the reply; "there's the rub. But," he added, turning to Colin, for the boy had told him of his plans, "by the time you're through college and on the permanent rolls of the Bureau that sort of ignorance about the value of Fisheries control will probably all have ...
— The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries • Francis Rolt-Wheeler

... spoil their suppers. Ah!—a bat goes by—a glove—a ball! And now from a vacant lot there comes the clamor of choosing sides. Is no mention to be made of you—you, "molasses fingers"—the star left fielder—the timely batter? What would you not give now for a clean bill of health? You rub your offending nose upon the glass. What matters it with what deep rascality in black mustachios you once strutted upon your boards? What is Hecuba ...
— There's Pippins And Cheese To Come • Charles S. Brooks

... to rub her hand against his cheek. Saxon jerked away with a little cry of disappointment, then examined ...
— The Valley of the Moon • Jack London

... over shoes) never did I behold such destruction in so short a space—bottom of padusoy coat fring'd quite round, besides places worn entire to floss, & besides frays, dammask, from shoulders to bottom, not lightly soil'd, but as if every part had rub'd tables and chairs that had long been us'd to wax mingl'd with grease. I could have cry'd, for I really pitied 'em—nothing left fit to be seen—They had leave to go, but it never entered any ones tho'ts but their own to be dressd in all (even ...
— Diary of Anna Green Winslow - A Boston School Girl of 1771 • Anna Green Winslow

... of war, with its ceaseless struggle between the Allies and the Central Powers for supremacy in the air, such a statement makes us rub our eyes as though ...
— The Mastery of the Air • William J. Claxton

... clung closer to Willie, as if afraid, kind Uncle George patted her head, and tried to part the short, thick, black hair, which would not stay parted, but insisted upon hanging straight over her eyebrows. Baby Emma had been wakened in her cradle by the noise, and began to rub her eyes out with her little fists. Being lifted into her mother's lap, she hid her face for a while; but finally she peeped forth timidly, and fixed a wondering gaze on the new-comer. It seemed that she concluded to like her; for she shook ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 65, March, 1863 • Various

... broad; when the Spirit of God came on him he could step from Zorah to Eshtaol although he was lame in both feet; the hairs of his head arose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance; he was so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth, Herakles tore asunder the mountain which, divided, now forms the Straits of Gibraltar and Gates ...
— A Second Book of Operas • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... "try and brace up. We'll soon be on Main Street and you don't want people to see you cry, do you? Here," extracting a little book of rice powder paper from her bag, "rub this over your face and the marks of your tears ...
— Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School • Jessie Graham Flower

... night, signore! Madonna, it is like rats gnawing at my legs, and nothing will stop it. Pancrazia—she is my wife, signore—Pancrazia, she gets out of bed and she heats oil to rub it on, but she might as well put it on the top of Etna for all the good it does me. And there I lie ...
— The Call of the Blood • Robert Smythe Hichens

... efforts to rub the burning oil from their bodies, twined around the cane, twisted from stem to stem, and set the fields on fire in a ...
— The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 59, December 23, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls • Various

... "if you want to signal, wet your hands and rub the phosphorus off the matches. Turn your hands, palms in our direction, so no one can see from the ...
— Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns • Major Archibald Lee Fletcher

... yet profaned this stool with a touch, for it was one of Arthur's specialties, bought at a great price in Algiers; but he brought it now for Gretchen and saw in fancy resting upon it the cold little feet his hands were to rub and warm and caress until life came back to them, and Gretchen's blue eyes smiled upon him ...
— Tracy Park • Mary Jane Holmes

... plan and execute As you are, pricked on by your popes and kings, Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours!" To Rafael's!—And indeed the arm is wrong. I hardly dare ... yet, only you to see, Give the chalk here—quick, thus the line should go! Ay, but the soul! he's Rafael! rub it out! Still, all I care for, if he spoke the truth, (What he? why, who but Michel Agnolo? Do you forget already words like those?) 200 If really there was such a chance so lost,— Is, whether you're—not grateful—but more ...
— Browning's Shorter Poems • Robert Browning

... Liberty for everyone—that's my rule. Dirty children are healthy, happy children. If a bee stings you in England, you clap on fresh dirt to cure the pain. Here we cure all kinds of pain with dirt. If my child is ill I dig up a spadeful of fresh mould and rub it well—best remedy out. I'm not religious, but I remember one miracle. The Saviour spat on the ground and made mud with the spittle to anoint the eyes of the blind man. Made him see directly. What does that mean? Common remedyof the country, of course. He didn't ...
— The Purple Land • W. H. Hudson

... her blaze never would die away. Why had she been so foolish? She would have given anything now to rub those horrid, prickly ...
— Dorothy Dale • Margaret Penrose

... The interview between Shattuck and the Governor took place, I have since learned, in the residence of the latter, and not in the Council Chamber. The publication of the ballad led to some discussion as to the historical truthfulness of the picture, but I have seen no reason to rub out any of the figures or ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... mind is all as youthful as your blood. Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit; For even the breath of what I mean to speak Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little rub, Out of the path which shall directly lead Thy foot to England's throne; and therefore mark. John hath seiz'd Arthur; and it cannot be That, whiles warm life plays in that infant's veins, The misplac'd John should entertain an hour, One minute, nay, one quiet breath ...
— King John • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... blotting-paper, sir," said Elsworthy, eagerly. "With a bit o' blotting-paper I'd undertake to rub out ink-stains out o' the finest carpet—if you'll permit me. It aint but a small speck, and it'll be gone afore you could look round. It's twenty times better nor lemon-juice, or them poisonous salts as you're always nervous of leaving ...
— The Perpetual Curate • Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant

... relations; one of the most inevitable of these being that in which he found himself to Mrs. Weeks Wimbush, wife of the boundless brewer and proprietress of the universal menagerie. In this establishment, as everybody knows, on occasions when the crush is great, the animals rub shoulders freely with the spectators and the lions sit down for whole evenings with ...
— The Death of the Lion • Henry James

... no one would; but I have read of a tame bat which knew its master, and loved to be stroked and petted as much as a dog would. Indeed it behaved very much like a dog, for it would climb up its master's coat and rub its head against him—more like a cat, you will say, in this—and lick his hands. When its master sat down, the bat used to hitch itself up to the back of his chair, and it would take flies and insects from his hand. But I have no doubt he was always ...
— Twilight And Dawn • Caroline Pridham

... should be laid on a drawing-board, and the photo placed on it face downwards, and firmly secured with drawing-pins. Now rub it gently with the glass-paper, until the picture is rendered semi-transparent. Then take it from the board, and give it a bath in the solution. Lay it in a dish, and cover it entirely with the solution, letting it remain there for a few minutes; lift it out, ...
— Little Folks - A Magazine for the Young (Date of issue unknown) • Various

... character, with as little warrant from common sense in the first instance as appeal to reason in the last. The ultima ratio regum proceeds upon a very different plea. Common sense is neither priestcraft nor state-policy. Yet 'there's the rub that makes absurdity of so long life,' and, at the same time, gives the sceptical philosophers the advantage over us. Till nature has fair play allowed it, and is not adulterated by political and ...
— Table-Talk - Essays on Men and Manners • William Hazlitt

... to this attempt at analysis with keen attention. Cassandra's words seemed to rub the old blurred image of life and freshen it so marvelously that it looked new ...
— Night and Day • Virginia Woolf

... "That is the rub!" Mayenne cried violently. "That is the trouble with all of you. You think more of the safety of your own skins than of accomplishing your work. Mordieu! where should I be to-day—where would the Cause be—if my first care was my ...
— Helmet of Navarre • Bertha Runkle

... make each other's lives." Then, as though trying to turn the conversation into a more impersonal channel: "Rum crowd here to-night, isn't it? See that woman sitting on your left? She looks as though she hadn't two sous to rub together, yet she's been losing at least five hundred francs each night this week. She covers the table with five-franc ...
— The Vision of Desire • Margaret Pedler

... march was resumed, "this is fine preparation for a battle! Edmond, rub the dust from your eyes; you look sleepy enough to ...
— For The Admiral • W.J. Marx

... behaviour unkindly wounding either of them, not for each other's dear sake abhorring the criminal? They would not injure you, but they cannot consent to see one another suffer or crave in vain. The two rub together in sympathy besides relationship to an intenser one. Are you, without much offending, sacrificed by them, it is on the altar of their mutual love, to filial piety or paternal tenderness: the younger has offered a dainty morsel ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith



Words linked to "Rub" :   pumice, chafe, hitch, rub up, adjoin, physical contact, strain, smear, wipe, Rub al-Khali, rubbing, rub out, smutch, pass, scrape, snag, fray, obstacle, guide, touch, fret, rub along, draw, sponge down, obstruction, itch, rub-a-dub, sponge off, scour, brush, irritate



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