Word.ws English Dictionary

rub elbows

Syllables: rub el·bowsUK/ˌɹʌb ˈɛlˌbəʊ̯z/US/ˌɹʌb ˈɛlˌboʊ̯z/

rub elbows verb: to associate closely; to consort, mingle, or socialize.

Verb

rub elbows (third-person singular simple present rubs elbows, present participle rubbing elbows, simple past and past participle rubbed elbows)

  1. (US, idiomatic, intransitive) To associate closely; to consort, mingle, or socialize.
    • [I]f any of the officers have but mentioned love to my wife, I'll challenge and fight such of them one by one; and if any of the common soldiers have so much as rubbed elbows with her, I'll beat them like dogs from one end of the regiment to the other.1823, James Hogg, “Peril First. Love.—Continued. Circle [IX]. Letter I.”, in The Three Perils of Woman; or, Love, Leasing, and Jealousy. […], volume II, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and...
    • We have in fact nothing to say against the worthy purveyor, further than that he is an intruder when he rubs elbows with the regular audience, and that the utmost personal contact to which he should aspire, is that which makes an ice, a jelly or some other delicacy, the disconnecting instrument...1833 June 22, “Theatricals”, in Figaro in London, volume II, number 81, London: […] W. Molineux, […] [for] W. Strange, […], →OCLC, page 100, column 1

Examples of rub elbows in a sentence

  • [S]adness and poverty are never more intolerable than when hope and wealth rub elbows with them.1893, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The King of Navarre”, in A Gentleman of France […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and...
  • It was distasteful enough to rub elbows with an illiterate and vulgar white man of no ancestry,— […]1901 October, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, “A White Man’s ‘Nigger’”, in The Marrow of Tradition, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton...
  • He just wanted to rub elbows with this throng of young people.1922, Zane Grey, chapter VIII, in The Day of the Beast, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 152:
  • Cowboys in ten-gallon hats and snakeskin boots rub elbows with yuppies dressed for success.2001 June 24, Jacob V. Lamar, “Look Away, Dixieland”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16...

Synonyms of rub elbows

Forms of rub elbows

third-person singular presentrubs elbows
present participlerubbing elbows
past participlerubbed elbows
pastrubbed elbows

Origin of rub elbows

From rub + elbows, suggesting people standing so close together that their elbows touch.

Questions about rub elbows

What does rub elbows mean?
Rub elbows means to associate closely; to consort, mingle, or socialize.
How do you use rub elbows in a sentence?
[S]adness and poverty are never more intolerable than when hope and wealth rub elbows with them.
What part of speech is rub elbows?
Rub elbows is a verb.
How do you pronounce rub elbows?
Rub elbows is pronounced /ˌɹʌb ˈɛlˌbəʊ̯z/ (UK).
What is the past tense of rub elbows?
The past tense of rub elbows is rubbed elbows.

Words near rub elbows in the dictionary

  1. rub and tugs
  2. rub away
  3. rub board
  4. rub boards
  5. rub down
  6. rub elbows
  7. rub in
  8. rub iron
  9. rub irons
  10. rub it in
  11. rub of the green

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rub elbows (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-rub elbows.ogg.

Cite this entry: “rub elbows.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rub_elbows. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.