noun imperfection; failing; fault.
2. rub ·noun the act of rubbing; friction.
3. rub ·noun a chance.
4. rub ·noun something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
5. rub ·vt to spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
6. rub ·noun inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls; unevenness.
7. rub ·vi to fret; to chafe; as, to rub upon a sore.
8. rub ·noun a stone, commonly flat, used to sharpen cutting tools; a whetstone;
called also rubstone.
9. rub ·vt to hinder; to cross; to thwart.
10. rub ·vi to move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.
11. rub ·vt to cause (a body) to move with pressure and friction along a surface; as, to rub the hand over the body.
12. rub ·vi to move along the surface of a body with pressure; to grate; as, a wheel rubs against the gatepost.
13. rub ·vt to move over the surface of (a body) with pressure and friction; to graze; to chafe; as, the boat rubs the ground.
14. rub ·noun 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.
15. rub ·vt to scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse;
often with up or over; as, to rub up silver.
xvi. rub ·vt to subject (a body) to the action of something moving over its surface with pressure and friction, especially to the action of something moving back and forth; as, to rub the flesh with the hand; to rub wood with sandpaper.