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.]
<-- 5. A condom. [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.
© Webster 1913.