rubbish (rubish)

[Formerly or dial. also rubbidge, rubbage; early mod. E. rubyes, also rubbry he, robri he (with intrusive r, prob. due to confusion with similar forms of rubric ); E. rubble ), dim. of robe, rob be, rubbish, trash, OIt. rob a, robba, It. rob a, rubbish, trash, lit. 'spoil' (> robaccia, old goods, trifles, as trash, ruk rubbish, robiccia, trifles, rubbish): see robe, rob1, rubble. Not connected with rub.] 1. Waste, broken, or worn-out material; usele fragments or remains collectively, especially of stone; refuse in general. = IMG:content-2551.png:[blocks in formation] trade-name for an imitation of vulcanized rub- ber. The principal ingredient in this imitation is said to be shellac. trade-name for an imitation of vulcanite or vul- canized rubber. IMG:content-2552.png:[blocks in formation] (b) A piece of caoutchouc used to erase pencil-marks from paper, etc. From this, the first use to which caoutchouc was put, it came to be called rubber, or India rubber (now india - rubber ). See def. 3. (c) A brush consisting of wool, felt, chamois-skin, or other substance fastened to a back, used for erasing chalk from a blackboard or slate. (d) In stone-work: (1) An implement used in grinding or polishing. In the moldings of stone, an iron rubber mounted on a wooden stock is employed for fillets, beads, and astragals. These rubbers have convex or concave faces, according to the required contour of the work. A stone or wooden block covered with thick felt is used for polishing stone and marble. E. H. Knight. (2) An implement for polishing marble, consisting of a ma of rags compre ed by screws in an iron frame. (e) A tool for rubbing or flattening down the seams of a sail in sail-making. (f) The cushion of an electric machine, by friction against which the plate becomes charged with one kind of electricity and the rubber with the opposite kind. The rubber is made of horsehair, and covered with leather overlaid with a metallic preparation, sometimes consisting of the bisulphid of tin, or an amalgam, usually of zine, tin, and mercury. (g) A whetstone, rubstone, or rub bing-stoner (2) A coarse file, or the rough part of it. (2) A device applying French polish to furniture, etc. It consists of a small ball of wadding covered with a linen rag. This is saturated with the varnish, and then covered with another rag moistened with oil. The varnish oozes gradually through the outside rag as the rubber is pa ed over the work with a uniform circular motion. (j) A grinding or abrading agent, as emery-cloth or gla -paper for surfacing plates. ( k ) The part of a wagon-lock which pre es against the wheels. 3. India-rubber; caoutchouc. See def. 2 (b), and india - rubber.-4. Something made partly or wholly of india-rubber or caoutchouc. (a) An overshoe: usually in the plural. [U. S.] (b) A tire the wheel of a bicycle. 5. An inequality of the ground in a bowling green; a rub; hence, obstruction; difficulty; unpleasant collision in the busine of life. A man who plays at bowls must expect to meet with rubbers . Thackeray , Virgin i ans, xxix. 6. pl. In the game of bowls, a contact or collision of two bowls. Hall i well. - 7. A limited series of games, usually three, as at whist, in which the contest is decided by the winning of the greater number of games; also, the decisive game in such a series. It is the trade of man, and ev'ry sinner Has play'd his rubbers ; every soul's a winner. Quarles, Emblems, i. 10. saw. Same as rubber