rub down

British  

verb

1. to dry or clean (a horse, athlete, oneself, etc) vigorously, esp after exercise

2. to make or become smooth by rubbing

3. (tr) to prepare (a surface) for painting by rubbing it with sandpaper

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noun

1. the act of rubbing down

2. the Hong Kong term for dressing-down

rub down Idioms  

1. Briskly rub the body, as in a massage. For example, The trainer rubs down marathon runners, or That horse needs rubbing down. This expression was first used (and still is) for rubbing away dust and sweat from a horse. [Late 1600s]

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Example Sentences

From the very beginning, they were, she writes, “rubbing down the hatches and the gunwales with sandpaper, our hands becoming dry and coarse themselves. It was horrible work.”

From Los Angeles Times

This meant rubbing down a sweating horse after it had raced or had a workout.

From Washington Post

She describes rubbing down the tenderloin of a mule deer with homemade white bean and wild rose miso, and then hanging it above an open fire.

From Washington Post

The women are rubbed down into featureless nubs, the men deflated caricatures — popped balloons.

From Los Angeles Times

Elizabeth Arden, born Florence Nightingale Graham outside Toronto, opened salons across the world; married a man who had a doubtful royal title; and famously had her horses’ legs rubbed down with her Eight Hour Cream.

From New York Times

Related Words

• comb
• educate
• prim
• tend