rubadub

See also: Rubadub

English

Etymology

(drum sound): Imitative.

Pronunciation

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Noun

rubadub (countable and uncountable, plural rubadubs)

2. The sound of a drum being continuously beaten.
   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 189:

     There would be a deafening rub-a-dub of drums and blowing of shell-trumpets.

4. (by extension) A clamorous, repeated sound; a clatter.
   • July 17 1850, Daniel Webster, "a speech", documented in Notes and Queries

     the rubadub of the abolition presses

6. A Jamaican style of dance with suggestive rubbing or grinding motions.
8. (Cockney rhyming slang) A pub or club.
   • 2011, Roger Protz, Good Beer Guide‎^[1]:

     The first rub-a-dub on this tour of hostelries is remarkable in many ways. The Black Lion at 59 High Street, Plaistow, E13 (see entry), dates from the 15th century and was rebuilt as a coaching inn in 1875.

   • 2013, Chris Sharp, War Games in an Urban Village: A Personal Account of Boyhood:

     "Well," she replied, "when yer gets up from yer Uncle Ned and yer wants ter get away from the Trouble an' Strife, yer'd go dahn the Frog and Toad to meet yer China Plates at the Rubba-Dub-Dub!"

10. (slang) A drunkard.

    Synonym: rubby-dub

    • 2014, Nolan Whyte, Among The Humans:

      We got to the bar on Eleventh Avenue and walked in. It was empty except for the fat old bartender and a few old rubadubs on the stools at the bar.

    • 1993, "Duffless" (TV episode of The Simpsons)

      MOE: C'mon, Homer, do it for your old pal Moesy.
      BARNEY: But Moe, yesterday you called Homer a worthless sack of—
      MOE: Pipe down, rubadub!

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “rubadub”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)