rubber

UK/ˈɹʌbə//ˈɹʌbɚ/

rubber noun: pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.

Noun (1)

rubber (usually uncountable, plural rubbers)

(countable, uncountable, usually) Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.

Synonyms:

natural rubber
(countable, uncountable, usually) Natural rubber or any of various synthetic materials with similar properties as natural rubber.
(Australia, Brunei, India, New Zealand, UK, countable) An eraser.
- For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects.2006, Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators, page 148
- Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’.2010, Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset, unnumbered page
(Canada, US, countable, slang, usually) A condom, especially an external condom.
- And the rubbers you hide / In your top left pocket1979, “At Home He's A Tourist”, in Entertainment!, performed by Gang of Four
- Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die! Don't have sex in the missionary position, don't have sex standing up, just don't do it, OK, promise? OK, now everybody take some rubbers.2004, Tina Fey, Mean Girls (motion picture), spoken by Coach Carr (Dwayne Hill)
Synonyms:

condom, cum catcher
(countable, usually) Someone or something which rubs.
- What perplexity plagues the chin-rubber in the foreground and what so discourages the man leaning on the lamp post? And to what doom is the large man at right moving? Photographer Cowherd has no answers.1949 July 11, LIFE, page 21
1. (countable, uncountable, usually) One who rubs down horses.
2. (countable, uncountable, usually) One who practises massage.
  - I curl his perriwig, paint his cheeks, perfume his breath; I am his froterer or rubber in a hot-house1601 (date written), Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], What You Will, London: […] G[eorge] Eld, for Thomas Thorppe, published 1607, →OCLC, (please specify the page)
3. (countable, uncountable, usually) A coarse towel for rubbing the body.
4. (countable, uncountable, usually) An abrasive for rubbing with: a whetstone, file, or emery cloth, etc.
(historical, usually) The cushion of an electric machine.
(countable, usually) The rectangular pad on the pitcher's mound from which the pitcher must pitch.
- Jones toes the rubber and then fires to the plate.
Synonyms:

pitcher's plate, pitcher's rubber
(Canada, US, in plural, usually) Water-resistant shoe covers, galoshes, overshoes.
- Johnny, don't forget your rubbers today.
- He set aside his aunt’s counsel in regard to a better regimen, as well as her more specific hints, made in view of the near approach of rough weather, that he provide himself with rubbers and an umbrella, even if he would not hear of a rain-coat.1919, Henry B[lake] Fuller, “Cope Goes A-Sailing”, in Bertram Cope’s Year: A Novel, Chicago, Ill.: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, →OCLC, page 154
(slang, usually) Tires, particularly racing tires.
- Jones enters the pits to get new rubber.
(dated, slang, usually) A hardship or misfortune.
- The British barges, off New-London, sometimes meet with the rubbers. In an attack upon an armed smack, some days ago, they were beaten off, with the reported loss of 8 men killed.1814, The Weekly Register, volume 5, page 302
- 'Twas a bit gone December, / As I well remember, / I met with a rubber, and got some advice; […]1843, John Castillo, Awd Isaac: The Steeple Chase, and Other Poems, page 101

Adjective

rubber

(slang) Not covered by funds on account.

Synonyms:

I wouldn't take a check from him. They're pure rubber., hot, bad

Noun (2)

rubber (plural rubbers)

The entire series, of an odd number of games or matches in which ties are impossible (especially a series of three games in bridge or whist).
- They played, and Creed and his young partner won the first rubber, winning the two first games running.1828, Robert Huish, The Red Barn: A Tale, Founded on Fact, page 83
- […] an old lady's innocent rubber.1907 May 25, in The Publishers' Weekly, number 1843, page 1608 http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCADAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22her%20grand-aunt%22&pg=PA1608#v=onepage&q=%22her%20grand-aunt%22&f=false
An individual match within the series (especially in racquet sports).
- Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points.2013 Cradley Heath Badminton League Rules as at 2013/2014
- Montreal’s Francoise Abanda lost the first rubber of the tie 6-2, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova on Saturday2015 February 7, “Canada trails Czech Republic 2-0 in Fed Cup tie after singles losses”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto
(Canada, US) A rubber match; a game or match played to break a tie.
The game of rubber bridge.
- "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber." "I think you will find that you will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play will be more exciting."1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League

Verb

rubber (third-person singular simple present rubbers, present participle rubbering, simple past and past participle rubbered)

To eavesdrop on a telephone call
- "There's a lot of nostalgia about the phone and how it was the way to get the local news," said Jane Beck of the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury. One way was "rubbering," or listening in on a neighbor's conversations ...1999, Los Angeles Times, "Party's Over for Rural Phone Customers in Green Mountain State," (Jan. 31, 1999)
(slang) To rubberneck; to observe with unseemly curiosity.
- Old Sally didn't talk much, except to rave about the Lunts, because she was busy rubbering and being charming.1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, chapter 17, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC

rubber meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

rubber in Hindi

pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree: रबर rabar, रबड़ rabaṛ

rubber in Tamil

மீள்மம், அழிப்பான், அழிப்பி, துடைப்பான், தொய்வை, தேய்ப்பான்

rubber in Marathi

someone or something which rubs: चोळणारा coḷṇārā, चोळणारी coḷṇārī

rubber in Urdu

pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree: رَبَڑ rabaṛ

More languagesFewer languages

rubber in Bengali: রবার robar
rubber in Telugu: రబ్బరు rabbaru
rubber in Malayalam: റബ്ബർ ṟabbaṟ
rubber in Kannada: ರಬ್ಬರು, ಉಜ್ಜುಕ, ಹಿಗ್ಗುಕ
rubber in Punjabi: ربڑ rabaṛ, ਰਬੜ rabaṛ
rubber in Gujarati: રબર rabar
rubber in Odia: ରବର, ରବର୍, ରବର ପ୍ରତି
rubber in Sanskrit: जतु játu
rubber in Nepali: रबर rabar, रबड rabaḍ
rubber in Pashto: ربړ rabaṛ
rubber in Tagalog: goma
rubber in Arabic: مَطَّاط maṭṭāṭ
rubber in Malay: getah
rubber in Indonesian: karet
rubber in Thai: ยาง yaang
rubber in Vietnamese: cao su
rubber in Myanmar: ရာဘာ rabha, ရော်ဘာ raubha

Examples of rubber in a sentence

Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.2011, Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger, Revised edition, unnumbered page:
My daddy said "Treat young girls like your mother" / My momma said "Trust no hoe, use a rubber"2019, “Ricky”, performed by Denzel Curry:

All 40 example sentences with rubber

Synonyms of rubber

natural rubber
condom
cum catcher
pitcher's plate
pitcher's rubber
I wouldn't take a check from him. They're pure rubber.
hot
bad

All synonyms of rubber

Forms of rubber

Noun
plural	rubbers
Verb
third-person singular present	rubbers
present participle	rubbering
past participle	rubbered
past	rubbered

Plural of rubber: rubbers

Origin of rubber

From rub + -er. The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not pertaining to rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

Unknown.

Words formed from rubber

Phrases with rubber

70 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with rubber

1 more rhymesFewer rhymes

stubber

Questions about rubber

What does rubber mean?: Rubber means pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.
What is rubber in Hindi?: Rubber in Hindi is रबर (rabar), रबड़ (rabaṛ). See Rubber meaning in Hindi.
How do you use rubber in a sentence?: Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.
What part of speech is rubber?: Rubber can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce rubber?: Rubber is pronounced /ˈɹʌbə/ (UK).
What is the plural of rubber?: The plural of rubber is rubbers.

Words near rubber in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubber (page history and authors); rubber (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); రబ్బరు (Telugu) (page history and authors); rubber (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ربڑ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); રબર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); rubber (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); जतु (Sanskrit) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-rubber.ogg, en-au-rubber.ogg.

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