rubbing

▪ I. ˈrubbing, vbl. n.
    [f. rub v.¹ + -ing¹.]
    1. a. The action of the vb. in various senses.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxi. (Bodl. MS.), Wiþ many brakingges, hechelinge, & rubbingge, hurden beþ deperted fro hempe. Ibid. xviii. xliii, Þat oþer [tooth] is ispared leste he schulde waxe dulle wiþ contynual smytinge and rubbinge. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 438/2 Rubbynge, confricacio. 1528 Paynell Salerne's Regim. A iij, Rubbyng of the body, exercise, & digestion. 1580 Blundevil Horsemanship X viij, The signes be apparant by the itching & rubbing of the Horse. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 114 It was presently made yellow, and with no rubbing could be made white againe. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xix. ¶4 Rubbing of Letters is also most commonly Boys-work. Ibid. xxiv. ¶11 This Rubbing is only to spread the Inck pretty equally. 1742 Middleton Cicero (ed. 3) III. xii. 286 The care that he employed upon his body, consisted chiefly in bathing and rubbing. 1784 Twamley Dairying Exempl. 20 Turning, rubbing, washing, and cleaning, is more than one Man can easily perform. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xxxvii, That sort of bloom wears off with the rubbing of the world. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 740 Rubbing of the limbs and passive exercises are of much importance.

    b. With advs., as down, off, out, over, up.

1648 Hexham ii, Bestrijckinge, a Stricking or a Rubbing over, or an Annointment. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 77 Vermin, bred up to..rubbing out of milk⁓scores, and bilking of their landladies. a 1704 ― Laconics Wks. 1711 IV. 20 He ought to have preach'd against Swearing, Pilfering, rubbing out of Ale-house Scores. 1771 Luckombe Hist. Printing 233 Whether it be well scraped, so as not to want rubbing down. 1837 Lockhart Scott (1839) IX. 369 He perhaps had been a good housemaid to Scotland and given the country a rubbing up. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 635/1 The rubbing off of arsenical particles in cleaning wall-papers.

    2. Bowls. (See rub v.¹ 14 b and n.¹ 2.)

1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 141 Sir challenge her to boule. Boy. I feare too much rubbing. 1609 Ev. Wom. in Hum. ii. i, Lets leave rubbing a while, since the byas runs so much the wrong way.

    3. techn. The process of straightening the wires in needle-making.

1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 356 This operation, which is called rubbing, straightens the lengths perfectly. 1860 Tomlinson Arts & Manuf. 2 Ser. Needles 6 The noise given out by this process of rubbing, as it is called, is very similar to that of filing.

    4. An impression or copy made by rubbing. (See rub v.¹ 1 e.)

1845 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. xi. 199 Taking rubbings of the different brasses in the churches round. 1854 N. & Q. 1st Ser. IX. 369/1, I send you this copy from a rubbing of a quaint epitaph. 1872 Ellacombe Bells of Ch. in Ch. Bells Devon ix. 320, I have a rubbing of a legend with the cross and stop.

    5. attrib. a. In sense ‘used for, or in connexion with, rubbing’, as rubbing alcohol, rubbing-bed, rubbing-block, rubbing-board, rubbing-cloth, etc. Also rubbing-place, rubbing-stroke, rubbing-surface, rubbing table.

1955 T. Sterling Evil of Day iii. 37 Celia checked her vanity case to see that she had enough *rubbing alcohol. 1971 Sci. Amer. Aug. 114/3 Spray the wax joints one at a time with rubbing alcohol.

1850 Holtzapffel Turning III. 1196 Slabs of marble..that are required to have flat surfaces..are laid upon the *rubbing-bed.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1392/2 A *rubbing⁓block is used for carrying the grit or powder for grinding..the faces of marble slabs.

1788 Abridgm. Patents, Bleaching (1859) 46 *Rubbing boards used in bleaching. 1835–6 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 704/2 For the purpose of setting this machine to work..the tops of all the rubbing boards are movable.

1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 135 Head-brushes and beard-brushes.., *rubbing cloathes of all kindes. 1611 Cotgr., Frottoir,..a rubber, a rubbing cloth. 1861 Reade Cloister & H. lv, A cupboard to keep his comb and rubbing clothes.

1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3723/4 The Horses to be shewn and entred at the *Rubbing-house 9 days before. 1828 Darvill Treat. Race horse 240 So necessary part of a racing establishment as a rubbing-house.

1565 Cooper Thes., Strigilecula, a..*rubbynge instrument.

1884 M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 227 From the doffers, the ends are taken in the regular way to the *rubbing leathers, and on to the bobbins.

1834–6 in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 704 *Rubbing machine.—This is used immediately after the preceding breaking process.

1600 [Dekker] Shoemakers Holiday iv. (1862) 15 A good *rubbing pin, a good stopper, a good dresser, your four sorts of awls.

1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xix. ¶4 They pick up the Letter to be Rub'd, and lay it down in the *Rubbing place.

1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., *Rubbing-pole, the pole with which the ashes are stirred and dispersed over an oven.

1782 W. H. Marshall Minutes in Rur. Econ. Norf. (1795) II. 115 It is an excellent custom of the Norfolk farmer to erect *rubbing posts in the different parts of the inclosure. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §16 Pigsty, with a rubbing-post in the open area or feeding-place. 1881 Hardy Laodicean i. v, At the rubbing-post was another groom.

1817 W. H. Marshall Review IV. 441, I have been..erecting *rubbing rails in various parts of the island.

1849 R. T. Claridge Cold Water Cure 50 The *rubbing-sheet... The term ‘rubbing’ is used, because when the sheet is thrown on the body, great rubbing is used outside of it.

1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 289 The triall is made by the touch-stone onely, with an obseruation of the *rubbing-strokes vpon it to bee alike and of the same strength.

1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 2285 The taps are lined with the anti-corrosive alloy; and the density of their *rubbing-surfaces is so varied, that the friction is reduced to a minimum. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 207 Rubbing Surface,..the total area of a given length of airway, i.e. areas of sides, top, and bottom, all added together.

1939 ‘E. Queen’ in Blue Bk. Oct. 21/2 Koyle slipped from the *rubbing-table, and Barney Hawks began shooing men out of the shower⁓room. 1976 N.Y. Rev. 24 June 8/3 Lyndon Johnson liked to talk to people while..lying in bed, on his rubbing table, skinny-dipping.

    b. In sense ‘exposed to rubbing’, as rubbing-paunch, rubbing-piece, rubbing plate, rubbing-strake.

c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 13 The mast is ready for the piece of timber called a *rubbing paunch made of fir, to receive the chafe of the lower yard.

1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 122/1 A *rubbing piece of wrought iron or other metal may be introduced into the under side of the shoe. 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. xv. 282 The outer edges of the wings are fitted with rubbing-pieces, or fenders. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 247/2 The purse..has some protection provided by layers of old netting called ‘rubbing pieces’ laced to its under surface.

1969 Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 550/3 The front end incorporates a *rubbing plate and retractable king pin.

1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vi. (ed. 2) 227 A jackstay should be fitted round the boat, underneath the *rubbing strake for the rain awning to be laced down to.

1928 G. Campbell My Mystery Ships iii. 36 The hinges were outboard, and had to be covered with rubber and made to look like a *rubbing strake for going alongside a jetty. 1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 May 7/3 Her hull mostly white down to the rubbing strake then black to the waterline.

▪ II. ˈrubbing, ppl. a.
    [f. rub v.¹ + -ing².]
    1. That rubs; that exerts friction.

1739 C. Labelye Piers Westm. Bridge 22 To have the Gudgeons or Pivots, and all the rubbing Parts made smooth. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 79 The rubbing parts thus bear long on each other, with enormous pressures. 1900 Hasluck Mod. Eng. Handybk. 74 The rubbing faces of guide-bars are..filed up as true as possible before the block is ground in.

    b. Such as results from rubbing.

1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxii. (1856) 279 Every now and then a harsh rubbing creak along her sides.

    † 2. rubbing shift: (cf. rub v.¹ 15). Obs.

1675 V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo ii. 53 Though he can make a shift with him, he could have made a Rubbing shift without Him. 1679 ― Melius Inq. ii. viii. 371 Many sincere Christians make a rubbing shift to get them [i.e. the ceremonies] down, accounting them tollerable though not illigible.

    Hence ˈrubbingly adv.

1891 Duncan Amer. Girl in London 277 [A cat] besought small favours rubbingly with purrs.

Oxford English Dictionary