The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rubber \Rub"ber\, n.
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One who, or that which, rubs. Specifically:
An instrument or thing used in rubbing, polishing, or cleaning.
A coarse file, or the rough part of a file.
A whetstone; a rubstone.
An eraser, usually made of caoutchouc or a synthetic rubber[4].
The cushion of an electrical machine.
One who performs massage, especially in a Turkish bath.
Something that chafes or annoys; hence, something that grates on the feelings; a sarcasm; a rub.
--Thackeray.
In some games, as bridge or whist, the odd game, as the third or the fifth, which decides the winner when there is a tie between the players; as, to play the rubber; also, a contest determined by the winning of two out of three games; as, to play a rubber of whist.
--Beaconsfield. ``A rubber of cribbage.''
--Dickens.India rubber; caoutchouc; gum elastic; -- also called natural rubber.
Any substance, whether natural or synthetic, resembling India rubber with respect to its elasticity[1].
A low-cut overshoe made of natural or synthetic rubber[4], serving to keep the feet and shoes dry when walking in the rain or on a wet surface; -- usually used in the plural.
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A condom. [Slang]
Antimony rubber, an elastic durable variety of vulcanized caoutchouc of a red color. It contains antimony sulphide as an important constituent.
Hard rubber, a kind of vulcanized caoutchouc which nearly resembles horn in texture, rigidity, etc.
India rubber, caoutchouc. See Caoutchouc.
Rubber cloth, cloth covered with caoutchouc for excluding water or moisture.
Rubber dam (Dentistry), a shield of thin sheet rubber clasped around a tooth to exclude saliva from the tooth.
Hard \Hard\ (h[aum]rd), a. [Compar. Harder (-[~e]r); superl. Hardest.] [OE. hard, heard, AS. heard; akin to OS. & D. hard, G. hart, OHG. herti, harti, Icel. har[eth]r, Dan. haard, Sw. h[*a]rd, Goth. hardus, Gr. kraty`s strong, ka`rtos, kra`tos, strength, and also to E. -ard, as in coward, drunkard, -crat, -cracy in autocrat, democracy; cf. Skr. kratu strength, k[.r] to do, make. Cf. Hardy.]
Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
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Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.
The hard causes they brought unto Moses.
--Ex. xviii. 26.In which are some things hard to be understood.
--2 Peter iii. 16. Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
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Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
The stag was too hard for the horse.
--L'Estrange.A power which will be always too hard for them.
--Addison. -
Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.
I never could drive a hard bargain.
--Burke. Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
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Not easy or agreeable to the taste; harsh; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.
Figures harder than even the marble itself.
--Dryden. Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.
(Pron.) Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another; -- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.
Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.
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(Painting)
Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
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Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade.
Hard cancer, Hard case, etc. See under Cancer, Case, etc.
Hard clam, or Hard-shelled clam (Zo["o]l.), the quahog.
Hard coal, anthracite, as distinguished from bituminous coal ( soft coal).
Hard and fast. (Naut.) See under Fast.
Hard finish (Arch.), a smooth finishing coat of hard fine plaster applied to the surface of rough plastering.
Hard lines, hardship; difficult conditions.
Hard money, coin or specie, as distinguished from paper money.
Hard oyster (Zo["o]l.), the northern native oyster. [Local, U. S.]
Hard pan, the hard stratum of earth lying beneath the soil; hence, figuratively, the firm, substantial, fundamental part or quality of anything; as, the hard pan of character, of a matter in dispute, etc. See Pan.
Hard rubber. See under Rubber.
Hard solder. See under Solder.
Hard water, water, which contains lime or some mineral substance rendering it unfit for washing. See Hardness, 3.
Hard wood, wood of a solid or hard texture; as walnut, oak, ash, box, and the like, in distinction from pine, poplar, hemlock, etc.
In hard condition, in excellent condition for racing; having firm muscles; -- said of race horses.
Syn: Solid; arduous; powerful; trying; unyielding; stubborn; stern; flinty; unfeeling; harsh; difficult; severe; obdurate; rigid. See Solid, and Arduous.
WordNet
Usage examples of "hard rubber".
He fitted a hard rubber cap snugly into the palm of his hand, and with the first and middle fingers encircled the cylinder over a steel ring near the other end.
Attached to the frame, which was tubular, was an oak box with a little arrangement of hard rubber and metal which fitted into the ears.
The memory of her head being restrained, cloth or the hard rubber of a ball-gag being insinuated into between her jaws was fresh and vivid.
A fireman took hold of the giant's right arm while the fire captain looped a left into his hard rubber stomach.
Before she began to clean, she put the hard rubber plug in the drain, closing that eye.
The hard rubber tires of the tram had settled appreciably when he put it in.
On the second-floor landing he kisses her again, this time harder, sliding her skirt up her silky legs as far as the tops of her stockings, fingering the little hard rubber nipples there, pressing her up against the wall.
Occasionally she would change a small ball of hard rubber from one hand to another, squeezing steadily.
The diaphragm is a round piece of flexible rubber about 2 inches in diameter with a hard rubber rim on the outside.
The open-topped car hummed down the roadway, gravel crunching under the hard rubber of its wire-spoked wheels, throwing a rooster-tail of dust behind it.
There was a hard rubber handle jutting between his legs: PULL TO EJECT.
Although they looked like steel, the surfaces had a faint giving quality, like very hard rubber.