3. To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as
huntsmen; to rub through the world.
To rub along or on, to go on with difficulty; as, they manage, with
strict economy, to rub along. [Colloq.]
Rub, n. [Cf. W. rhwb. See Rub, v,t,] 1. The act of rubbing; friction.
2. That which rubs; that which tends to hinder or obstruct motion or
progress; hindrance; obstruction, an impediment; especially, a
difficulty or obstruction hard to overcome; a pinch.
Every rub is smoothed on our way.
Shak.
To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub.
Shak.
Upon this rub, the English ambassadors thought fit to demur.
Hayward.
One knows not, certainly, what other rubs might have been ordained
for us by a wise Providence.
W. Besant.
3. Inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls;
unevenness. Shak.