Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a rustic, a farmer.

1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 129: Perhaps ’Squire Rube Fink, sometimes called ‘the Rev. Major Fink’ and sometimes ‘Talking Rube,’ gives the best description of Luke’s condition, habits and surroundings, that I can offer.
1883		N. Tribune (Sheboygan, MI) 4 Aug. 8/3: The latter was telling old Rube of his trouble with crows.
1891		Boston Globe 11 Jan. 10/2: A ‘rube’ is a brief term for a country theatre-goer for whom the ‘show is too rich for his blood,’ or too good in other words.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 81: She did n’t want you to think that any Reub could go up and flag her.
1902		‘Billy Burgundy’ Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 94: A yokel [...] whose favorite pastime was giving the neighboring rubes the double-cross.
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 63: A Dago bootblack and a Long Island Reub.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 31 Aug. 3/4: The four-abreast country Rubes are bad enough in that place of hurry and bustle, but these damned kids want chasing .
1914		R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 27: I guess Walsh thinks I am some rube.
1916		J. Lait ‘Omaha Slim’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 119: I could be a prosp’rous Reub with whiskers over my ears an’ drive my own Ford.
1927		E. Pound letter 23 Mar. in Paige (1971) 209: I spose there’ll have to be one soft-shelled weeping rube to keep in touch with the great heart of the republic.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 59: ‘How was the harvest this time?’ ‘’Bout as usual. Rubes wantin’ as much done as they kin fer as little pay as they kin possibly give.’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 134: It sure knocked those rubes out when they heard us play the blues.
1953		A.J. Liebling Honest Rainmaker (1991) 127: Eventually the rube who was renting him the place came round.
1967		W. Murray Sweet Ride 141: The rube had [...] piles of money all over the table.
1972		N. Algren ‘The Last Carousel’ from Playboy in Texas Stories (1995) 128: A dozen rubes were already gaping.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 66: And clip those threads on your coat or you’ll look like a rube.
2001		N. Tosches Where Dead Voices Gather (ms.) 221: Bert Williams, professional coon and Mason, was a student of Aristotle; Chester Lauck, professional rube, was a banker.
2012		Slate 17 Dec. 🌐 Now we're supposed to praise the open-minded leadership of this representative of the white trash from West Virginia [...] This rube is one of the biggest reasons I never give a penny to the democratic party.

2. a fool, an unsophisticated person; the victim of a confience trick.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 8: If I had time I’d go over to that church and make a lot o’ them Reubs look like thirty-centy pieces.
1905		Little Falls Herald (MN) 31 Mar. 3/3: How to Operate the Shell Game with Profit [...] Make a hot lamas before the rube gets the green in his mit, and do a ringer before making another pitch.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘Innocents of Broadway’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 114: He was a typical city Reub — I’d bet the man hadn’t been out of sight of a skyscraper in twenty-five years.
1916		J. Lait ‘Canada Kid’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 153: A plain-clothes dick nails me wit’ my fingers in a rube’s overcoat.
1925		S. Lewis Arrowsmith 460: Well, I never expected a rube like young Martin to marry the real bon-ton article.
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 59: He knows how t’ sling crap to the rubes.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 21: The Rube has a sincere little boy look.
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 197: They are drawn to politics as a rube to a three-shell con game.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 57: Jack was appalled at how many of the crowd were really rubes about baseball.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 5: Whispering among themselves that the rubes of this world never will get the hang of things.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 15: Joe netted the night’s first rube.
2007		Guardian 3 Mar. 🌐 The old carnival circuit, where the real skill was getting the credulous rubes into the tent.
2016		Tablet 16 Nov. 🌐 The rubes had wised up to how the GOP exploited them every four years, and Trump’s funny, what-the-fuck but fuck-you style [...] blended perfectly with their frustration and his message.

3. a general term of abuse/disdain.

1910		Wash. Post 3 July 3/1: If the rube hadn’t been fixed to stay away and Hoppy had got a finif fer dippin’ inter his prat-kick, he’d had plenty of time ter saw off his habit.
1917		Wodehouse ‘ At Geisenheimer’s’ in Man with Two Left Feet 106: I could have bitten him, the sawn-off little rube!
1936		R. Chandler ‘Guns At Cyrano’s’ in Red Wind (1946) 231: Hold it, rube.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 315: That’s what happens when it blows hard – these rubes’ll chicken out at the dock.
2006		(con. 1972) Jurgenson & Cea Circle of Six 40: Heavily armed and dedicated rubes [...] tugged back and forth over politically drawn lines.