rubber

Etymology 1

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

noun

1. (uncountable) Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon polymer of isoprene.
2. (uncountable, countable) Synthetic materials with the same properties as natural rubber.
3. (countable, Australia, India, Brunei, New Zealand, UK) An eraser.
   For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects. 2006, Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators, page 148
   Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’. 2010, Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset, unnumbered page
   Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks. 2011, Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger, Revised edition, unnumbered page
4. (countable, Canada, US, slang) A condom.
   And the rubbers you hide / In your top left pocket 1979, “At Home He's A Tourist”, in Entertainment!, performed by Gang of Four
5. (countable) Someone or something which rubs.
   1. One who rubs down horses.
   2. One who practises massage.
   3. A coarse towel for rubbing the body.
   4. An abrasive for rubbing with: a whetstone, file, or emery cloth, etc.
6. (historical) The cushion of an electric machine.
7. (countable, baseball) The rectangular pad on the pitcher's mound from which the pitcher must pitch.
   Jones toes the rubber and then fires to the plate.
8. (Canada, US, in the plural) Water-resistant shoe covers, galoshes, overshoes.
   Johnny, don't forget your rubbers today.
9. (uncountable, slang) Tires, particularly racing tires.
   Jones enters the pits to get new rubber.
10. (slang, dated) A hardship or misfortune.
    The British barges, off New-London, sometimes meet with the rubbers. In an attack upon an armed smack, some days ago, they were beaten off, with the reported loss of 8 men killed. 1814, The Weekly Register, volume 5, page 302
    'Twas a bit gone December, / As I well remember, / I met with a rubber, and got some advice; […] 1843, John Castillo, Awd Isaac: The Steeple Chase, and Other Poems, page 101

adj

1. (slang, of a draft/check) Not covered by funds on account.

Etymology 2

Unknown.

noun

1. (sports) 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:
   1. The entire series, of an odd number of games or matches in which ties are impossible (especially a series of three games in bridge or whist).
      They played, and Creed and his young partner won the first rubber, winning the two first games running. 1828, Robert Huish, The Red Barn: A Tale, Founded on Fact, page 83
      […] an old lady's innocent rubber. 1907 May 25, in The Publishers' Weekly, number 1843, page 1608 http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCADAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22her%20grand-aunt%22&pg=PA1608#v=onepage&q=%22her%20grand-aunt%22&f=false
   2. An individual match within the series (especially in racquet sports).
      Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points. 2013 Cradley Heath Badminton League Rules as at 2013/2014
      Montreal’s Francoise Abanda lost the first rubber of the tie 6-2, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova on Saturday February 7 2015, “Canada trails Czech Republic 2-0 in Fed Cup tie after singles losses”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto
2. (sports, Canada, US) A rubber match; a game or match played to break a tie.
3. 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." 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League

Etymology 3

verb

1. (telephony) 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 ... 1999, Los Angeles Times, "Party's Over for Rural Phone Customers in Green Mountain State," (Jan. 31, 1999)
2. (slang) To rubberneck; to observe with unseemly curiosity.