rub-a-dub

[ruhb-uh-duhb]

noun

1. the sound of a drum when beaten.

Word History and Origins

Origin of rub-a-dub¹

First recorded in 1780–90; imitative

Example Sentences

“The second generation was impatient with Stanton, who refused ‘to sing suffrage evermore,’ preferring ‘the rub-a-dub of agitation.’

From Washington Post

Not for nothing has Simonon described Merrie Land as a work of “modern English folk music with a bit of rub-a-dub in it”.

From The Guardian

Hopefully, a little rub-a-dub on Tiffany Watts, the baddest girl in the eleventh grade.

From Literature

Turning the hardest hearts into a fantastic mess, Priest offers timeless covers of John Mayer’s “Gravity” and John McLean’s “If I Gave My Heart to You,” with latter reviving that rub-a-dub quality from the 1980s.

From Washington Times

"Aha!" thought Hook, and he picked up a tom-tom that one of the flying Indians had left behind, and sounded it loudly; "rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, dub, dub, dub."

From Project Gutenberg