Word.ws English Dictionary

rubs off

rubs off is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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.

Questions about rubs off

What is rubs off the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Rubs off is the third-person singular simple present indicative of rub off.

Words near rubs off in the dictionary

  1. rubs down
  2. rubs elbows
  3. rubs in
  4. rubs it in
  5. rubs of the green
  6. rubs off
  7. rubs off on
  8. rubs one off
  9. rubs one out
  10. rubs one's face with a brass candlestick
  11. rubs one's hands

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rubs 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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Cite this entry: “rubs off.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rubs_off. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.