Word.ws English Dictionary

rubbing up against

rubbing up against is the present participle and gerund 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 rubbing up against

What is rubbing up against the present participle and gerund of?
Rubbing up against is the present participle and gerund of rub up against.

Words near rubbing up against in the dictionary

  1. rubbing stones
  2. rubbing strip
  3. rubbing strips
  4. rubbing the fear of God into
  5. rubbing up
  6. rubbing up against
  7. rubbing up on
  8. rubbing up the wrong way
  9. rubbingly
  10. rubbings
  11. rubbingstone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubbing 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: “rubbing up against.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubbing_up_against. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.