Rugburn
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A painful burn or redness of skin, especially on knees, elbows, and hands, from repetitive friction against a rug or similar surface. countable
"The ombudsman found that youth living at El Pueblo remained under the care and supervision of staff who had been accused of abusing them. In one case, a youth was reportedly dragged across the carpet by two staff members, resulting in rugburns on his face."
- 2 Rugburns in general. uncountable
"Like, seriously, thanks for the music. It's meant a lot. […] Your lead's hotter than rugburn."
- 1 To cause a rugburn to form. transitive
"Every time I rugburned my knees, every time some morbidly obese man fondled me as if I were his mindless property, my distaste for the job deepened."
Example
More examples"The ombudsman found that youth living at El Pueblo remained under the care and supervision of staff who had been accused of abusing them. In one case, a youth was reportedly dragged across the carpet by two staff members, resulting in rugburns on his face."
Etymology
From rug + burn.
Related phrases
More for "rugburn"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.