Rub-up
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The action of rubbing, for example polishing or massaging.
"[…] Ben laid them [the knives and forks] side by side, counted them, and finding the number agree with his guests, said, “They’ll dow capital when they’ve had a bit of a rub up.”"
- 2 The act of bringing old information to the front of one's memory.
- 3 A party, especially one that is spontaneous and involves music and dancing. Caribbean
- 4 An encounter (with someone). obsolete
"1889, Stevenson Arthur Blackwood, letter to his wife, cited in Some Records of the Life of Stevenson Arthur Blackwood, K.C.B., London: Hodder and Stoughton, p. 453, Altogether, it has been a most enjoyable trip to me. As much or as little company as I chose, and a rub up against a number of old acquaintances of all sorts."
- 5 The act of masturbating. obsolete, slang
"to do a rub-up"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[…] Ben laid them [the knives and forks] side by side, counted them, and finding the number agree with his guests, said, “They’ll dow capital when they’ve had a bit of a rub up.”"
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.