Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbing off

rubbing off is the present participle and gerund of rub off.

Meaning of rub off

Verb

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

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rub, off.
  2. To clean by rubbing.
    • He was wet through with the dew and quite earthy from diving into the burrows the Boy had made for him in the flower bed, and Nana grumbled as she rubbed him off with a corner of her apron.1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be transferred with little or no effort.
    • I hoped that, if I hung out with the popular kids, some of their charisma might rub off on me.

Noun

rubbing off (uncountable)

  1. (slang) Female masturbation.

Questions about rubbing off

What does rubbing off mean?
Rubbing off means female masturbation.
What is rubbing off the present participle and gerund of?
Rubbing off is the present participle and gerund of rub off.
What part of speech is rubbing off?
Rubbing off is a noun.

Words near rubbing off in the dictionary

  1. rubbing elbows
  2. rubbing in
  3. rubbing it in
  4. rubbing machine
  5. rubbing machines
  6. rubbing off
  7. rubbing off on
  8. rubbing oil
  9. rubbing oils
  10. rubbing one off
  11. rubbing one out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbing off (page history and authors); rub off (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-rubbing off.ogg.

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