The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
RUBBERING
Etymology
Verb
rubbering
present participle of rubber
rubbernecking
Anagrams
• rerubbing
Source: Wiktionary
RUBBER
Rub"ber, n.
1. One who, or that which, rubs. Specifically: (a) An instrument or thing used in rubbing, polishing, or cleaning. (b) A coarse file, or the rough part of a file. (c) A whetstone; a rubstone. (d) An eraser, usually made of caoutchouc. (e) The cushion of an electrical machine. (f) One who performs massage, especially in a Turkish bath. (g) Something that chafes or annoys; hence, something that grates on the feelings; a sarcasm; a rub. Thackeray.
2. In some games, as whist, the odd game, as the third or the fifth, when there is a tie between the players; as, to play the rubber; also, a contest determined by the winning of two out of three games; as, to play a rubber of whist. Beaconsfield. "A rubber of cribbage." Dickens.
3. India rubber; caoutchouc.
4. An overshoe made of India rubber. [Colloq.] Antimony rubber, an elastic durable variety of vulcanized caoutchouc of a red color. It contains antimony sulphide as an important constituent.
– Hard rubber, a kind of vulcanized caoutchouc which nearly resembles horn in texture, rigidity, etc.
– India rubber, caoutchouc. See Caoutchouc.
– Rubber cloth, cloth covered with caoutchouc for excluding water or moisture.
– Rubber dam (Dentistry), a shield of thin sheet rubber clasped around a tooth to exclude saliva from the tooth.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
24 May 2025
EARTHSHAKING
(adjective) sufficiently significant to affect the whole world; “earthshaking proposals”; “the contest was no world-shaking affair”; “the conversation...could hardly be called world-shattering”
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