Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbed up against

rubbed up against is the simple past and past participle of rub up against.

Meaning of rub up against

Verb

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

  1. To touch something with one's body.
    • She accidentally rubbed up against the painted door and got green paint on her blouse.
  2. To touch another person with one's body in a sexually stimulating manner.
    • Now men, I have rubbed up against a few men in my time, but women?1994, Samuel Becket, Molloy, page 75
  3. To touch a person's body in a friendly manner, seeking attention. (of animals)
    • Tibbles the cat rubbed up against my leg, asking for a piece of my cheese.
  4. To come into conflict with someone or something.

Questions about rubbed up against

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

Words near rubbed up against in the dictionary

  1. rubbed someone up the wrong way
  2. rubbed someone's face in
  3. rubbed someone's nose in
  4. rubbed the fear of God into
  5. rubbed up
  6. rubbed up against
  7. rubbed up on
  8. rubbed up the wrong way
  9. rubbed work
  10. rubbed works
  11. rubbee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbed up against (page history and authors); rub up against (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 up against.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubbed_up_against. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.