Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Rubbing |
RubbingNoun1. The resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another. 2. Representation consisting of a copy (as of an engraving) made by laying paper over something and rubbing it with charcoal. 3. Effort expended in rubbing one object against another. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "rubbing" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Metallurgy | Process of leveling and flatting a dried coating film by rubbing it, either wet or dry and usually with a suitable abrasive, to remove nibs and other irregularitiess and to provide a surface with a suitable key for a subsequent coating. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: RubbingSynonyms: detrition (n), friction (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Friction | Noun: friction, attrition; rubbing, abrasion, scraping. Verb: confrication, detrition, contrition, affriction, abrasion, arrosion, limature, frication, rub; elbow grease; rosin; massage; roughness . |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | There was a lot of kissing and hugging and a lot of rubbing, and I kind of finished before I was supposed to. You have to be a guy to understand that (The Other Sister; writing credit: Alexandra Rose; Blair Richwood) Right now he's probably dancing around in his grandma's panties, yeah, rubbing himself in peanut butter (Se7en; writing credit: Andrew Kevin Walker) He may be rich, but all his money and power can't stop me from rubbing my hands together maniacally (The Norm Show; writing credit: Brett Baer; Lawrence Broch) Martha? Rubbing alcohol for you (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; writing credit: Edward Albee; Ernest Lehman) He's rubbing our noses in it (The Man with One Red Shoe; writing credit: Francis Veber; Yves Robert) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Rubbing It In (1930) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Looks like rubbing it in --. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | "We rub these sticks together till we strike a spark ... we keep rubbing these sticks together ... we take these sticks ..." / Herblock. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Subcontracting. Bogie-wheel assembly. Lining up a milling machine fixture in the shop of an Eastern subcontractor working on the production of bogie-wheel assembly parts. The particular operation shown is the milling of a slot in a rubbing plate. Painesvi. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno | Carroll, Lewis | Rubbing from left to right had no visible effect whatever |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Joly had the habit of rubbing his nose with the end of his cane which is an indication of a sagacious mind |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | The fellows were struggling and groaning and their legs were rubbing and kicking and stamping |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | She stopped her rubbing when he sat down |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | An eye injury, i.e., excessive eye rubbing or wearing hard contact lenses for many years. (references) | |
Soak combs and brushes for 1 hour in rubbing alcohol, Lysol*, or wash with soap and hot (130o F) water. (references) | ||
Usually, moving the legs, walking, rubbing or massaging the legs, or doing knee bends can bring relief, at least briefly. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Rubbing" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 95.33% of the time. "Rubbing" is used about 599 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 95.33% | 571 | 11,044 |
| Noun (singular) | 4.67% | 28 | 65,706 |
| Total | 100.00% | 599 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "rubbing": rubbing alcohol ♦ rubbing bands ♦ rubbing bar ♦ rubbing cloth ♦ rubbing contact ♦ rubbing off ♦ rubbing out ♦ rubbing piece ♦ rubbing ring ♦ rubbing strake ♦ rubbing strip ♦ rubbing varnish. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "rubbing": rubbing-marks, rubbing-post. | |
Ending with "rubbing": nose-rubbing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "rubbing"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | fërkim (caress, embrocation, fondling, friction, massage, rub, scouring, traction, unction). (various references) | |
Arabic | فرك (chafe, rub, scour, scrape, scrub, stone), تمسيد (massage, rub, stroke), إحتكاك (attrition, contact, drag, friction, rub). (various references) | |
Chinese | " (to clean, to erase, to polish, to wipe), 摩" (Chafe, friction, frictional, Rubbed). (various references) | |
Danish | slibning (abrasion, acuminate, cutting, grinding, lapping, sanding, sharpen, smoothing, surface grinding, to grind tools, whet 3)grounding), pudsning (doping, sanding, smoothing, swabbing), kold afvaskning (friction), gnidning (fretting, friction), frottering (friction), friktion (friction, rolling friction). (various references) | |
Dutch | rubbing, wrijven (rub), schuren (abrade, polish), frictio (friction), frictie (friction), doorwrijftechniek, afwrijving (friction). (various references) | |
Finnish | kahnaus (rub), hionta (cutting, grinding, sanding, smoothing), hieronta (massage). (various references) | |
French | frottement (rub), frottage (rub). (various references) | |
German | Reiben (chafe, grate, grind, rub, to chafe, to rub), scheuern (chafe, jib, rub, scour, scrub), Reibung (friction, inharmoniousness), reibend (chafing, grinding), Frottieren (rub). (various references) | |
Greek | τριβή (abrading, abrasion, attrition, frazzle, friction, wear). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שפשוף (abrasion, grinding, wearing out), שחיק" (abrasion, burnout, erosion, grating, grinding, pounding, wear), חכוך (conflict, friction, scratching), "שתפשפות (effacing, erasure). (various references) | |
Hungarian | dörzsölõ, dörzsölés (chafing, friction, rub, scour, scraping). (various references) | |
Indonesian | penggosokan (incitement, polishing), pencurian (larceny, looting, scam, theft), gosokan (instigation, polishing), gesekan (friction, stringed instrument), gerusan (scraping). (various references) | |
Italian | rilievo (emphasis, height, high ground, importance, relief, remark, take over), strofinare (clean, polish, rub, rub down, scrub, wipe), sfregamento (fouling, fretting, friction, galling, seizing), linimento (liniment, liniments), frottatura, frizione (clutch, friction), fregata (frigate), fregare (cheat, pinch, rip off, rub, short-change, sneak, spoof, trick), follatura (friction, fulling), attrito (attrition, friction). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 摩" (chafe, friction, rubdown). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | まさつ (chafe, friction, rubdown), いしずり (print from stone, rubbed copy). (various references) | |
Korean | 마찰 (friction). (various references) | |
Manx | rubbal (rub, rub down, rub up). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ubbingray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | polimento (burnish, glaze, glossiness, polish, scour, shine, shoeshine, varnish), fricção (fret, friction, rub, rubdown). (various references) | |
Romanian | polizare (polishing), fricţiune (disagreement, divergence, divergency, friction, rub, rubdown, shampoo), frecuş (rubdown), frecare (abrasion, contusion, friction, rub, scrape), frecãturã (friction), desen copiat prin frecare. (various references) | |
Russian | тереть (chafe, grate, rub, rubbed), калоши (galoshes). (various references) | |
Scottish | siabadh (quick sweep past). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | ribanje (ragging, scour, scrub), trljanje (friction, rub). (various references) | |
Spanish | frotamiento (friction, rub), frotacion (friction), fricción (friction). (various references) | |
Swedish | slipning (cut, grinding, sharpening), gnuggning, frottering (chafing), friktion (friction). (various references) | |
Turkish | silme (cancel, cancellation, defacement, deletion, erasion, erasure, obliteration, wipe, wiping), sürtme (friction, frictional, rub, scrape), sürtünme (friction, frictional, rub), ovma (friction, rub, rubdown, scrub), ovalama (friction, rub, rubdown, scrub), merdane ile bastırma. (various references) | |
Turkmen | spirit (rubbing alcohol). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | тертя (abrasion, attrition, chafing, fret, friction, rub), натирання (chafing, rub), протирання. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | tribos. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | adustione, adustionem, tritura, triturae, trituram. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 6, Verse 13 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | O d' autoV enneuei ofqalmw shmainei de podi didaskei de enneumasin daktulwn |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Annuit oculis terit pede digito loquitur |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | He twincleth with the eyen, he tramplith with the foot, with the fingir he speketh, |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Making signs with his eyes, rubbing with his feet, and giving news with his fingers; |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 6, Verse 13 |
| Cebuano | Nga nagapangidhat sa iyang mga mata, nga namulong uban sa iyang mga tiil, Nga nagabuhat ug mga ilhanan uban sa iyang mga tudlo; |
| Croatian | namiguje oèima, lupka nogama, pokazuje prstima; |
| Danish | som blinker med Øjet, skraber med Foden og giver Tegn med Fingrene, |
| Dutch | Wenkt met zijn ogen, spreekt met zijn voeten, leert met zijn vingeren; |
| Finnish | silmää iskee, jaloillaan merkkiä antaa, sormillansa viittoo, |
| French | Il cligne des yeux, parle du pied, Fait des signes avec les doigts; |
| German | winkt mit Augen, deutet mit Füßen, zeigt mit Fingern, |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Ia bermain mata dan membuat isyarat untuk menipu. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Bahwa iapun mengendap-endap dengan matanya dan mengguit-guit dengan kakinya dan memberi isyarat dengan jarinya; |
| Italian | ammicca con gli occhi, stropiccia i piedi e fa cenni con le dita. |
| Maori | E whakakini ana ona kanohi, e korero ana ona waewae, e tuhi ana ona maihao; |
| Norwegian | som blunker med øinene, skraper med føttene, gjør tegn med fingrene, |
| Portuguese | pisca os olhos, faz sinais com os pés, e acena com os dedos; |
| Rumanian | clipewte din ochi, dq din picior, wi face semne cu degetele. |
| Russian | НЙЗБЕФ ЗМБЪБНЙ УЧПЙНЙ, ЗПЧПТЙФ ОПЗБНЙ УЧПЙНЙ, "БЕФ ЪОБЛЙ БМШ"БНЙ УЧПЙНЙ; |
| Spanish | guiña los ojos, hace señas con sus pies e indica con sus dedos. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "rubbing": rubbings. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "rubbing": drubbing, grubbing, moneygrubbing, scrubbing. (additional references) | |
Words containing "rubbing": drubbings, moneygrubbings. (additional references) | |
| |
"Rubbing" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: pubbing, roabing, robing, robingo, Roebbig, rubbi, rubbin, rubbling, Rubine, rubing, rugbeian. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "rubbing" (pronounced ru"bing) |
| 5 | r u" b i ng | drubbing, scrubbing. |
| 4 | -u" b i ng | clubbing, dubbing, snubbing, subbing. |
| 3 | -b i ng | absorbing, bobbing, bribing, curbing, dabbing, describing, disturbing, ebbing, gabbing, grabbing, hobbing, hobnobbing, jabbing, lobbing, nabbing, prescribing, probing, ribbing, robbing, sobbing, stabbing, subscribing, tabbing, throbbing, transcribing, tubing, webbing. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-b-g-i-n-r-u" | |
-2 letters: bring, bruin, burin, ruing, unrig. | |
-3 letters: brig, brin, bung, burg, burn, girn, grin, grub, ring, ruin, rung. | |
-4 letters: bib, big, bin, bub, bug, bun, bur, gib, gin, gnu, gun, nib, nub, rib, rig, rin, rub, rug, run, urb, urn. | |
-5 letters: bi, in, nu, un. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-b-g-i-n-r-u" | |
+1 letter: blurbing, burbling, drubbing, grubbing, rubbings, rubbling. | |
+2 letters: drubbings, redubbing, rubbering, scrubbing. | |
+3 letters: barbecuing, barbequing, blubbering, grubbiness, outbribing, slubbering. | |
+4 letters: belabouring, overdubbing, rubberizing, subscribing. | |
+5 letters: grubbinesses, nightclubber, outthrobbing, unbridgeable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
