rub

1 an unforeseen obstacle [syn: hang-up, hitch, snag]

2 the act of rubbing or wiping; "he gave the hood a quick rub" [syn: wipe]

1 move over something with pressure; "rub my hands"; "rub oil into her skin"

2 cause friction; "my sweater scratches" [syn: fray, fret, chafe, scratch]

3 scrape or rub as if to relieve itching; "Don't scratch your insect bites!" [syn: scratch, itch] [also: rubbing, rubbed]rubbing

1 the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact with another [syn: friction]

2 representation consisting of a copy (as of an engraving) made by laying paper over something and rubbing it with charcoal

3 effort expended in rubbing one object against another [syn: friction, detrition]rubbing See rub

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌbɪŋ

Noun

1. An impression of an embossed or incised surface made by placing a piece of paper over it and rubbing with graphite, crayon or other coloring agent.

Verb

rubbing

1. present participle of rub

A rubbing is a reproduction of the texture of a surface created by placing a piece of paper or similar material over the subject and then rubbing the paper with something to deposit marks, most commonly charcoal or pencil, but also various forms of blotted and rolled ink, chalk, wax, and many other substances as well.

Common uses for this technique include:

• Brass rubbing, to make copies of monumental brasses
• Forensic uses including finding out what was written on a sheet of paper removed from a pad by rubbing the impressions left on subsequent sheets or other backing materials.
• Frottage, a surrealist art form
• Gravestone rubbing, to make copies of gravestones for research or artistic purposes

apograph, brushing, carbon, carbon copy, caressing, companion, confrication, contacting, contingent, copy, dead ringer, double, duplicate, duplication, effigy, exact likeness, feeling, fellow, fiche, fingering, frication, fricative, friction, frictional, frottage, glancing, grazing, handling, hectography, icon, idol, image, impingent, impinging, in contact, likeness, living image, living picture, manifold, manipulation, match, mate, meeting, microcopy, microfiche, microform, mimeography, miniature, mirroring, model, nudging, osculatory, palpation, perfrication, petting, photograph, picture, portrait, pressure, recording, reduplication, reflection, reproduction, reprography, resemblance, rub, semblance, shadow, similitude, simulacrum, spit and image, spitting image, stroking, tangent, tangential, tenor, touching, trace, tracing, transcript, transcription, transfer, twin, very image, very picture, xerography