- present participle of rub.
rubbing
Americannoun
-
rubbings
plural
-
an act or action of a person or thing that rubs.
-
an impression of an incised or sculptured surface made by laying paper over it and rubbing with heelball, graphite, or a similar substance until the image appears.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rubbing
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at rub, -ing 1
Vocabulary lists containing rubbing
Visual Arts - Introductory
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Visual Arts - High School
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Visual Arts - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While searching the reserve for wildlife, Porter photographed a red-billed oxpecker rubbing its bill against a white rhino's skin in the afternoon light.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
In the kitchen, Gruel recommends rubbing it with avocado oil, salt and fresh herbs.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
It may even put your digital self on the field and make you part of the competition, rubbing virtual shoulders with your favorite players.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosures, released Tuesday by the U.S. government, are rubbing salt in their wounds.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Since then, I’ve been sitting on this couch, rubbing the frayed armrest, every second Thursday for three months now.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Similarly, a study published in May in the journal Communications Biology found that elephants form complex "sentences" through their various rumbles, ear flags, trunk rubbings and other actions.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2024
Macie and his resident partner, Sophie Lynn Morris, also made Måla modeling dough casts of the fissures found on display furniture and crayon rubbings off the splintering cement floor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
In 2016 graphic designer Marina Willer created a booklet of neon rubbings; manhole colouring books are available for people seeking mindfulness; and a Shoreditch company offers framed prints of rubbings for £80.
From BBC ● May 14, 2021
It’s a sentiment Judy summed up in a poem she wrote to accompany her “Group” rubbings:
From Washington Post ● Jan. 22, 2020
“Now those are some names you don’t see very often these days,” one of the chaperones, passing by and looking down at his rubbings, remarks.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
