Word.ws English Dictionary

rubs

rubs is the plural of rub.

rubs is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rub.

Meaning of rub

Noun

rub (plural rubs)

  1. An act of rubbing.
    • Give that lamp a good rub and see if any genies come out.
  2. A difficulty or problem.
    • To die, to sleep— / To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub! / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pausec. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    Synonyms:
    hitch, hiccup, catch, kink, glitch, snag
  3. (archaic) A quip or sarcastic remark.
  4. In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course.
  5. Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing.
    • a heat rub intended for muscular strains
    1. A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued.

See all 15 meanings of rub

Noun capitalized: RUBs

RUBs

  1. (plural) plural of RUB

Phrases with rubs

20 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about rubs

What is rubs the plural of?
Rubs is the plural of rub.
What part of speech is rubs?
Rubs is a noun.

Words near rubs in the dictionary

  1. rubrospinal
  2. rubrosulphin
  3. rubrous
  4. rubrozem
  5. rubrozems
  6. rubs
  7. rubs along
  8. rubs away
  9. rubs down
  10. rubs elbows
  11. rubs in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubs (page history and authors); RUBs (page history and authors); rub (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: “rubs.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubs. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.