rubber

English Online Dictionary. What means rubber‎? What does rubber mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌbə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌbɚ/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɐbə/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʊbə/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʊbəɹ/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌbəɹ/
• Rhymes: -ʌbə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From rub +‎ -er.

The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not having to do with rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

Noun

rubber (usually uncountable, plural rubbers)

2. (uncountable, countable) Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.

   Synonym: natural rubber

4. (uncountable, countable) Natural rubber or any of various synthetic materials with similar properties as natural rubber.

   Hyponyms: natural rubber; neoprene, polychloroprene

5. (countable, Australia, India, Brunei, New Zealand, UK) An eraser.
6. (countable, Canada, US, slang) A condom.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:condom
7. (countable) Someone or something which rubs.
   1. One who rubs down horses.
   2. One who practises massage.
   3. A coarse towel for rubbing the body.
   4. An abrasive for rubbing with: a whetstone, file, or emery cloth, etc.
8. (historical) The cushion of an electric machine.
9. (countable, baseball) The rectangular pad on the pitcher's mound from which the pitcher must pitch.

   Synonyms: pitcher's plate, pitcher's rubber

10. (Canada, US, in the plural) Water-resistant shoe covers, galoshes, overshoes.
11. (uncountable, slang) Tires, particularly racing tires.

12. (slang, dated) A hardship or misfortune.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Kashubian: roberk (Canada, United State)
• → Sikaiana: lapa

Translations

Adjective

rubber

1. (slang, of a draft/check) Not covered by funds on account.

Usage notes

Colloquially, a check that has insufficient funds to cover it is said to "bounce"; consequently, a check that will immediately bounce is referred to as "rubber" or a "rubber check."

Synonyms

• (of a draft/check): hot, bad

  I wouldn't take a check from him. They're pure rubber.

Translations

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Noun

rubber (plural rubbers)

1. (sports) In relation to a series of games or matches between two competitors where the overall winner of the series is the competitor which wins a majority of the individual games or matches:
   1. The entire series, of an odd number of games or matches in which ties are impossible (especially a series of three games in bridge or whist).
      • 1907 May 25, in The Publishers' Weekly, number 1843, page 1608 [2]:

        […] an old lady's innocent rubber.

   2. An individual match within the series (especially in racquet sports).
      • 2013 Cradley Heath Badminton League Rules as at 2013/2014

        Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points.
2. (sports, Canada, US) A rubber match; a game or match played to break a tie.
3. The game of rubber bridge.

Derived terms

• dead rubber
• rubber bridge
• rubber match

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

rubber (third-person singular simple present rubbers, present participle rubbering, simple past and past participle rubbered)

1. (telephony) To eavesdrop on a telephone call
   • 1999, Los Angeles Times, "Party's Over for Rural Phone Customers in Green Mountain State," (Jan. 31, 1999):

     "There's a lot of nostalgia about the phone and how it was the way to get the local news," said Jane Beck of the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury. One way was "rubbering," or listening in on a neighbor's conversations ...

2. (slang) To rubberneck; to observe with unseemly curiosity.

References

• “natural rubber”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English rubber.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrʏ.bər/
• Hyphenation: rub‧ber
• Rhymes: -ʏbər

Noun

rubber n (plural rubbers, diminutive rubbertje n)

1. (uncountable) [[]]rubber (pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree)
2. piece of rubber used in machines
3. a condom

Derived terms

• rubberen (adjective)

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrøbər/

Noun

rubber c or n (no plural)

1. rubber

Further reading

• “rubber (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

Adjective

rubber

1. rubber

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• “rubber (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011