the rub

Idioms  

1. The difficulty or problem, as in We'd love to come but there's the rub—we can't get reservations. This expression may come from lawn bowling, where rub refers to an unevenness in the ground that impedes the ball. Its most famous use is in one of Hamlet's soliloquies (Hamlet, 3:1): “To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come ... Must give us pause.” [Late 1500s]

---

Example Sentences

But here’s the rub: the rest of us can’t.

From The Wall Street Journal

But here’s the rub: ByteDance will still own the algorithm and license it to the joint venture.

From The Wall Street Journal

What stood out were the allegations - on social media - that hosts Morocco were getting the rub of the green when it came to refereeing decisions.

From BBC

But here’s the rub: Waiving the act would only decrease East Coast refined product prices such as gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel by between 60 and 80 cents per barrel, Goldman Sachs researchers concluded, citing the MIT research External link.

From Barron's

“And there’s the rub,” Callaway said.

From Literature

Related Words

• barrier
• bug
• crunch
• difficulty
• disadvantage
• drawback
• glitch
• hitch
• holdup
• hurdle
• impediment
• inconvenience
• obstacle
• stumbling block