Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbed down

rubbed down is the simple past and past participle of rub down.

Meaning of rub down

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To rub from top to bottom, e.g. for cleaning, stripping paint or massage.
    • We were taken to a light airy stable, and placed in boxes adjoining each other, where we were rubbed down and fed.[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 101
  2. (dated, transitive) To frisk (search by feeling the body and clothing).
    • […] "jumped him", as it were, and immediately "rubbed him down" with the view of getting possession of his weapon.1931, Hargrave Lee Adam, C.I.D. Behind the Scenes at Scotland Yard, page 221
  3. (transitive) To grind, wear down, or wear away by rubbing.
    Synonyms:
    rub away

Questions about rubbed down

What is rubbed down the simple past and past participle of?
Rubbed down is the simple past and past participle of rub down.

Words near rubbed down in the dictionary

  1. rubbage
  2. rubbages
  3. rubbed
  4. rubbed along
  5. rubbed away
  6. rubbed down
  7. rubbed elbows
  8. rubbed in
  9. rubbed it in
  10. rubbed off
  11. rubbed off on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbed down (page history and authors); rub down (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.

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Cite this entry: “rubbed down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubbed_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.