Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a round or rubber of a card-game, usu. whist.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1828		F.F.Cooper Elbow-Shakers! I i: Come, have a rub; I’ve a trick or two to show.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 229: That’s two doubles and the rub.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 199: Hold on; that’s one rub on me. Try it again.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 8 July 4/7: But they [i.e. the police] ne’er disturb the ‘rubs’ / Of the whites in bogus clubs.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 7 May 4/7: Perchance you’re a member of a real swagger club, / And fond of a flutter, or else like your ‘rub’.

2. a sporting rubber, a series.

1905

Sun. Times (Perth) 14 May 4/7: They’re [i.e. Aus. cricketers] certain to capture the ‘rub,’ / And return with of ashes an urnful.