Dictionary

rubadub en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

(drum sound): Imitative.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The sound of a drum being continuously beaten.
   • There would be a deafening rub-a-dub of drums and blowing of shell-trumpets. 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 189:
2. (broadly, countable, uncountable) A clamorous, repeated sound; a clatter.
   • July 17 1850, Daniel Webster, "a speech", documented in Notes and Queries the rubadub of the abolition presses
3. (countable, uncountable) A Jamaican style of dance with suggestive rubbing or grinding motions.
4. (Cockney, countable, slang, uncountable) A pub or club.
   • 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. 2011, Roger Protz, Good Beer Guide:
   • "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!" 2013, Chris Sharp, War Games in an Urban Village: A Personal Account of Boyhood:
5. (countable, slang, uncountable) A drunkard.
   • 2002, "The Bad Family" (TV episode of Baby Blues.)
   • MELINDA: OH MY GOD, I bet Darryl's out there every night watching me do my lady's buissness! Why doesn't Wanda do something? CARL: Probably passed out in a puddle of her own sick. MELINDA: This is awful! we're living next to a rubadub and a peeper. (for context, Wanda tries some liquor that Darryl gave her and coughs violently, when her neighbors (Carl and Melinda) rang the doorbell, Wanda answered coughing and wheezing which made made Carl and Melinda think she was drunk, after that, Darryl was hiding some Easter eggs for the annual Easter egg hunt when he climbed in Carl and Melinda's tree, making it seem like Darryl was spying on Melinda.)
   • MOE: C'mon, Homer, do it for your old pal Moesy. BARNEY: But Moe, yesterday you called Homer a worthless sack of— 1993, "Duffless" (TV episode of The Simpsons)
   • 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. 2014, Nolan Whyte, Among The Humans:

Forms

Synonyms

rubby-dub