rub out
Britishverb
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to remove or be removed with a rubber
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slang to murder
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Australian rules football to suspend (a player)
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Obliterate or erase by, or as if by, rubbing. For example, Bill was so busy rubbing out the old markings that he forgot to put in new ones . [Mid-1600s]
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Murder, kill, as in They threatened to rub him out if he didn't pay up . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]
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.
But I felt that her story had been subsumed had been rubbed out, she'd been made invisible by the official version.
From Salon
Ever since, Egypt’s new leader has attempted to rub out all vestiges of the revolution using overwhelming repression to crush calls for change.
From The Guardian
Exotic has served a year of his more than 20-year sentence for attempting to hire a hitman to rub out Baskin.
From Fox News
“Jano Madrid, you made this world a better place,” reads one; another says: “We will never forget your lovely smile, Petty,” and a third: “Fortunato Mestanza, the mark you left can never been rubbed out.”
From Reuters
The army angrily described the killings as a rub out and demanded murder charges be filed immediately against nine police officers.
From Washington Times
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.
