<B>ruana, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a square, heavy kind of poncho worn in Colombia and in parts of the Andes region. </DL>
<A NAME="ruatcoelum">
<B>ruat coelum,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) though the heavens fall. </DL>
<A NAME="rub">
<B>rub, </B>verb, <B>rubbed,</B> <B>rubbing,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to move (one thing) back and forth (against another); move (two things) together. <BR> <I>Ex. Rub your hands to warm them. He rubbed soap on his hands. Solomon Gill rubbed his hands with an air of stealthy enjoyment (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to push and press along the surface of; move one's hand or an object over the surface of. <BR> <I>Ex. The nurse rubbed my lame back.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to make or bring (to some condition) by rubbing. <BR> <I>Ex. to rub silver bright. Don't rub my skin off.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to clean, smooth, or polish by moving one thing firmly against another. <BR> <I>Ex. to rub a table with steel wool.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to irritate or make sore by rubbing. <BR> <I>Ex. The new shoe rubbed his heel, causing a blister. You rub the sore, when you should bring the plaster (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) chafe. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) to annoy; makeangry. <BR> <I>Ex. His conceit rubbed her considerably.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to press as it moves. <BR> <I>Ex. That door rubs on the floor. Stray, homeless cats rubbed against his legs (Winston Churchill).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to be capable of being rubbed; admit of rubbing. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to keep going with difficulty. <BR> <I>Ex. Money is scarce, but we shall rub along.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the act of rubbing. <BR> <I>Ex. Give the silver a rub with the polish.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) something that hurts the feelings. <BR> <I>Ex. He didn't like her mean rub at his slowness.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a rough spot due to rubbing. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) a difficulty. <BR> <I>Ex. The rub came when both boys wanted to sit with the driver. To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub (Shakespeare).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub down,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to rub (the body); massage. </I> <I>Ex. He went to the Turkish bath to have his aching back rubbed down.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to clean (a horse) from dust and sweat by rubbing. <BR> <I>Ex. After the horses are rubbed down, the men proceed to the straw barn (H. Stephens).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub elbows with.</B> </I>See under <B>elbow.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub</B> (<B>it</B>) <B>in,</B> </I>(Informal.) to keep on mentioning something unpleasant. <BR> <I>Ex. to rub in a point. The sterile oscillation between home and pub is rubbed in hard (Listener). Ye needn't rub it in any more (Rudyard Kipling).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub off,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to remove by rubbing. </I> <I>Ex. There's some dust on your sleeve; rub it off.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to be removed by rubbing. <BR> <I>Ex. Ink rubs off easily with this eraser.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub off on,</B> </I>to cling to; become a part of; take hold of. <BR> <I>Ex. Possibly some of Wilson's devotion to style has rubbed off on him (Saturday Review).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub out,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to erase. </I> <I>Ex. Rub out your error with an eraser.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(U.S. Slang, Figurative.) to murder. <BR> <I>Ex. Shoveling the money back into the house, the frantic badmen realize that the little old lady must be rubbed out (Time).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub shoulders with.</B> </I>See under <B>shoulder.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub the wrong</B> (or <B>right</B>) <B>way.</B> </I>See under <B>way.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>rub up,</B> </I>(Especially British Informal.) to make better; improve. <BR> <I>Ex. The Earl of Chincham ... is rubbing him up a bit in Society ways (Punch). She told ... him to rub up his English or get out of her service (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rubaboo">
<B>rubaboo</B> or <B>rubbaboo, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Canadian.) a soup made by boiling pemmican in water with flour and other ingredients. </DL>
<A NAME="rubadub">
<B>rub-a-dub, </B>noun, verb, <B>-dubbed,</B> <B>-dubbing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the sound of a drum being beaten. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar sound. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make such a sound. </DL>
<A NAME="rubai">
<B>ruba'i, </B>noun, pl. <B>rubaiyat</B> =quatrain.</DL>
<A NAME="rubaiyat">
<B>Rubaiyat, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> a collection of poems in quatrains written in Persia in the 1100's by Omar Khayyam, translated into English and edited and arranged as a sequential poem by Edward FitzGerald, that was published in 1859. </DL>
<A NAME="rubasse">
<B>rubasse, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> quartz crystals containing particles of hematite which reflect a bright-red color, used as a gem. </DL>
<A NAME="rubato">
<B>rubato, </B>adjective, noun, pl. <B>-tos,</B> <B>-ti.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) <DD><I>adj. </I> having certain notes of a measure or phrase lengthened or shortened for the purpose of expression or individual interpretation. <DD><I>noun </I> a rubato tempo or passage. <BR> <I>Ex. He is acquainted with most of the traditional rubati of the Johann Strauss style (Winthrop Sargeant).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rubber">
<B>rubber</B> (1), noun, adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an elastic substance obtained from the milky juice of certain tropical plants, or made synthetically by chemical processes; india rubber. Rubber will not let air or water through. Pure rubber is a whitish hydrocarbon that becomes black and more easily worked when vulcanized for commercial use in the manufacture of tires, erasers, etc. <BR> <I>Ex. Natural rubber is made up of long molecules consisting of simple hydrocarbons strung together end to end like beads in a necklace (Edith Goldman).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of various synthetic products resembling rubber. <DD><B> 3. </B>something made from rubber, such as a rubber band. Pencils often have rubbers for erasing pencil marks. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Baseball.) <DD><B> a. </B>the rectangular piece of rubber on the pitcher's mound. <DD><B> b. </B>home plate. <DD><B> 5a. </B>a person or thing that rubs. <DD><B> b. </B>a person who gives a rubdown; masseur. <DD><B> c. </B>a person who makes brass rubbings. <BR> <I>Ex. an amateur rubber.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Slang.) a condom. <DD><I>adj. </I> made of rubber. <BR> <I>Ex. a rubber tire.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> (Slang.) to stretch the neck or turn the head to look at something. <BR><I>expr. <B>rubbers,</B> </I>rubber overshoes, especially low-cut ones. adj. <B>rubberlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="rubber">
<B>rubber</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a series of two games out of three or three games out of five won by the same side in bridge, whist, and certain other card games. <DD><B> 2. </B>the deciding game in such a series. <BR> <I>Ex. If each side has won two games, the fifth game will be the rubber.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>any game which breaks a tie. </DL>
<A NAME="rubberband">
<B>rubber band,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a circular strip of rubber, used to hold things together. <BR> <I>Ex. I keep a rubber band around the small cardboard tickets that I get with every purchase at the bakery (Atlantic).</I> (SYN) elastic. </DL>
<A NAME="rubberbridge">
<B>rubber bridge,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a type of contract bridge in which players settle the score after each rubber. </DL>
<A NAME="rubbercement">
<B>rubber cement,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an adhesive consisting of natural or synthetic rubber in a solvent, used to bond leather, paper, rubber, and some other light articles. </DL>
<A NAME="rubbercheck">
<B>rubber check,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a check refused by the bank on which it is drawn because of insufficient money on deposit to cover the amount; check that bounces. </DL>
<A NAME="rubberchicken">
<B>rubber-chicken, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with the monotonous round of chicken dinners a political figure is obliged to attend. </DL>
<A NAME="rubbergame">
<B>rubber game,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the deciding game or match in an odd-numbered series as in baseball or boxing. </DL>
<B>rubberize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to cover or treat with rubber. <BR> <I>Ex. rubberized cloth.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="rubberlatex">
<B>rubber latex,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> latex used to make rubber balls, vulcanized rubber yarn, and other articles of rubber. The hevea tree, guayule, and milkweed plants produce rubber latex. </DL>
