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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

rube en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ɹuːb/
  • ro͞ob
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Generic use of the name Rube. See hey rube for more.

Meanings

  1. (Canada, US, informal) A person of rural heritage; a yokel.
    • You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. 1991, Ted Tally, The Silence of the Lambs (motion picture), spoken by Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins):
    • "Same time," said Babbitt, "no sense excusing these rube burgs too easy. Fellow's own fault if he doesn't show the initiative to up and beat it to the city, like we done—did. […]" 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter VIII, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:
  2. (derogatory) An uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
Reub alternative lexicographic
rubes Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

hey rube · rubish · rubelike

Synonyms

bucolic · hob · provincial · lob · bogger · corncob · churl · woolly back · carl · yokel · clodhopper · rube · hayseed · honyock · rustic · bydlo · hick · hunk · hog-rubber · dubbo · culchie · promdi · joskin · country cousin · hobnail · country bumpkin · bogtrotter · boor · cornhusker

Translations (26)

de Trottel (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · nl boerenpummel (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · nl mafkees (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · ru деревенщина (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · ru простофиля (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · cs křupan (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · da bonderøv (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · de Tölpel (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · ru недотёпа (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · pl wieśniak (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · pl prostak (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · cs buran (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · cs (venkovský) balík (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · de Bauerntölpel (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · ru проста́к (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · nl plattelander (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · bg наивник (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · fi juntti (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · hu bugris (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · de Bauerntrampel (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · nl sul (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · nl simpele ziel (pejorative: uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person) · no bondetamp (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · bg селяндур (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · fi maalainen (person of rural heritage; a yokel) · fr plouc (person of rural heritage; a yokel)