rubber n.2
1. (US) a cosh.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Rough Stuff 16: My partner proceeded to work on him with a rubber (a cosh) which kept bouncing off his head like a ball. |
2. (US black) a car; thus on rubber, driving a car; also attrib.
| ‘Hectic Harlem’ in N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Feb, sect. 2: ON RUBBER – Used to signify a person who owns a car, as ‘So-and-so is now on the rubber.’. | |
| ‘Sl. among Nebraska Negroes’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 317/1: To be on rubber or to be on wheels means to have a car. | |
 | ‘Back Door Stuff’ 29 Jan. [synd. col.] The Harlem ‘rubber’ routine of from Central Park to 155th St [...] and across the bridge to St Nicholas Ave. where they could park in all their unpaid-for glory. | |
| Tambourines to Glory II ii: All good-looking women like to ride on rubber. | |
| (con. 1948) Flee the Angry Strangers 190: How’d you like to chase around in a rubber like this all the time, beautiful? | |
| Room to Swing 11: ‘I’m on rubber,’ I said, nodding at the Jaguar. |
3. (orig. US, also rubber goods) a contraceptive sheath.
| Scarlet Pansy 270: Lovely rubber goods appropriate to the sex of the individual. | |
| End as a Man (1952) 91: Maybe next time you’ll use a rubber. | |
| Naked Lunch (1968) 198: I went down to Doc Parker’s again to get me a rubber. | |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn 277: She was sure she was pregnant. That night the rubber broke. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Down All the Days 163: I hope he brought his rubbers with him [...] Durex is a man’s best friend. | |
| Faggots 271: Fourteen rubbers, seven diaphragms. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Blow Your House Down 42: ‘How much is it?’ [...] ‘Fiver. Straight sex with a rubber.’. | |
| West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 92: [The] floating rubbers from some hectic night that others have. | |
| Homeboy 7: The litter [...] of spent rubbers that squished like slugs. | |
| Guardian Guide 29 May-4 June 87: By the end of the night it’s three pints of beer and a rubber. | |
| ‘Ooh’ 🎵 It’s Trojans, ’cos I love my rubbers. | |
| Life 27: Filthy magazines lying around. Used rubbers. Flies buzzing. | |
| Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] Joey and Nicky found used rubbers along the curb behind the grammar school. | |
| Twitter 4 Sept. 🌐 Here at RFC Netheravon we hand out rubbers by the truckload.... mainly replacement rubber hoses but also a few boxes of French ticklers too. | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 233: Doc Shelley habituates beauty pageants and slides the girls rubbers. |
4. (also piece of rubber) a fake or forged cheque; thus drop rubber, rubber up v., to pass such a cheque.
| On Broadway 21 Mar. [synd. col.] Now there’s a shortage of rubber, what’s he using for checks? | |
| et al. DAUL 181/1: Rubber. 1. Forged checks or other instruments. | |
| Lead With Your Left (1958) 24: How about this paperhanger Hanson, think he could be the phony doctor dropping rubber around here? | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 156/2: rubber (also piece of rubber) n. a cheque rendered invalid by lack of sufficient funds [...] rubber up to pass an iinvalid cheque. |
5. (US) a set of tyres.
| Teen-Age Mafia 102: Whitey pushed the Jaguar up to eighty [...] eating up rubber. | |
| Cutter and Bone (2001) 8: At the very least it [i.e. money] would have meant new rubber and a valve job. |
6. see rubber cheque n.
In compounds
(US) in fig use of sense 3, something worthless.
| Guardian G2 3 July 6/3: The group’s debut album [was] pushed further and further back before Yams declared it a dead rubber. |
(N.Z. prison) bacon and eggs.
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 156/2: rubber and rocks n. bacon and eggs. |
see sense 3 above.
(UK und.) selling contraceptive sheaths.
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 9: Rubber lark: Selling rubber goods. |
a sex shop.
| Keep The Aspidistra Flying (1962) 11: When darkness hid his blushes, he’d slink into one of the rubber-shops and buy High Jinks in a Parisian Convent. | |
| Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 162: He turned aside and looked into the window of a rubber shop. Strewth! | |
| Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 143: Charing Cross Road with its slum-grey cliffs, its rubber shops and spivs. |
In phrases
see separate entry.
see burn rubber v.
see under lay v.1
to drive a car very fast.
| ‘Yulesville’ in Bench Racer at r.webring.com 🌐 He laid the jazz on me and peeled from the gig, / Wailing, ‘Have a cool Yule, Man!’ and clutched off in his rig. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 14: I jammed on the gas, peeling rubber. | |
| et al. Wayne’s World [film script] The light changes and they peel off. | |
| Stormy Weather 298: Augustine punched the accelerator and peeled rubber. | |
| (con. 1986) Sweet Forever 150: Monroe tossed dollars at the Ethiopian parking attendant, caught rubber leaving the lot. | |
| Nature Girl 145: Skinner heard rubber peeling [...] Louis Piejack’s truck, speeding away. | |
| This Is How You Lose Her 178: They flip you the bird and peel out. | |
| Widespread Panic 283: I gunned my sled and peeled through the rear-exit alley. |
see burn rubber v.
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(orig. gay) a rubber fetishist.
| Queens’ Vernacular 174: rubber queen rubber fetishist; one who wears rubber, fucks on rubber sheets, etc. | |
| Maledicta III:2 236: Conservative homosexuals use it pejoratively: dizzy queen, rubber queen, and dinge queen. |
In phrases
(US) in fig. use, the desired place.
| Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 149: Now we’re getting down to where the rubber meets the road. | |
| Atomic Lobster 2: Let me give you the skinny from where the rubber meets the road. |