rubber

adj

Etymology: From rub + -er. The sense of the substance comes from its ability to function as an eraser, displacing earlier caoutchouc. The senses not pertaining to rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.

1. Not covered by funds on account.

noun

Etymology: Unknown.

1. In relation to a series of games or matches between two competitors where the overall winner of the series is the competitor which wins a majority of the individual games or matches:

   “They played, and Creed and his young partner won the first rubber, winning the two first games running.”

   “[…] an old lady's innocent rubber.”

2. In relation to a series of games or matches between two competitors where the overall winner of the series is the competitor which wins a majority of the individual games or matches:

   “Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points.”

   “Montreal’s Francoise Abanda lost the first rubber of the tie 6-2, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova on Saturday”

3. A rubber match; a game or match played to break a tie.
4. The game of rubber bridge.

   “"Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber." "I think you will find that you will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play will be more exciting."”

verb

1. To eavesdrop on a telephone call

   “"There's a lot of nostalgia about the phone and how it was the way to get the local news," said Jane Beck of the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury. One way was "rubbering," or listening in on a neighbor's conversations ...”

2. To rubberneck; to observe with unseemly curiosity.

   “Old Sally didn't talk much, except to rave about the Lunts, because she was busy rubbering and being charming.”