rub
part of speech
verb (rub, rubs, rubbed, rubbing); noun (a rub)
meaning for a pupil
1) To rub is to move your hand or something else backwards and forwards over a surface, pressing on it. tree →
2) To rub something in or on is to spread it by rubbing: rub in sun cream. tree →
3) To rub out (UK) is to remove pencil marks with a rubber. tree →
4) A rub is the act of rubbing. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, rubbing two things together makes friction and heat: rub your hands to warm them; rubbing a balloon on hair makes static electricity. In health, do not rub your eyes with dirty hands. Phrases: «rub it in» (keep reminding someone of a mistake), «rub someone up the wrong way» (annoy them), «rub shoulders with» (meet important people).
examples
- Rub your hands together to keep warm. tree →
- Don't rub your eyes — wash them with water. tree →
- Rub sun cream into your skin. tree →
- Rub out the wrong answer and try again. tree →
- The cat rubbed against my legs. tree →
- Rubbing a balloon makes it stick to the wall. tree →
- My new shoes rub my heels. tree →
- OK, I lost — don't rub it in! tree →
- She rubbed another match on the wall. tree →
note
Double the b: rubbed, rubbing. In the UK a «rubber» is an eraser; in the US «rubber» can mean something else, so Americans say «eraser».
In the corpora
- Rubbing makes skin grow thicker into calluses, which protect it; barefoot runners grow thick soles that protect like shoes.
- Dyes can also leave: they wash out, rub off and fade in sunlight.
- A cat that rubs against your legs is leaving its scent on you, a friendly way of saying you belong to it.
- You let a strange cat sniff a finger held low and stroke it only if it rubs against you.
- Good hand washing rubs the palms, the backs, between the fingers, the thumbs, the fingertips and the wrists.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «rub» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.