Green’s Dictionary of Slang

rubbedy n.

also rubbady, rubberdy, rubbidy, rubbiddy-dub, rubbie, rubbity, rubbity dub, rubbity rub, rubby, rubiddy
[rub-a-dub n.2 (1)]

1. (Aus.) a public house.

[Aus]Worker (Brisbane) 4 Sept. 8/4: And — I will lay an oil-rag to a pound of ‘Darling Pea’ — / He gallops straight away towards a ‘rubbie’ for ‘a spree’.
[Aus]Duke Tritton’s Letter n.p.: I rambled over to the Rubbity Dub and had a pint of Oh My Dear. In fact I had several and finished up in the dead house, broke to the wide.
[Aus]Sun. Times (Perth) 19 Aug. 4/8: They gather at the rubby / Where the tarts are shine and chubby.
[Aus]Sun. Times (Perth) 16 Aug. 4/8: I could do with two or three / In my Hay-street rubbie.
[Aus]Sun. Times (Perth) 28 Feb. 4s/8: She likes a tid, and we drops into a few rubbies on the way up to Perth.
[Aus]E.S. Sorenson Bush Cooks in Life in the Aus. Backblocks 81: Others swamp their earnings at the wayside rubby, and have themselves to blame that they are every year humping bluey.
[Aus]E.G. Murphy ‘Mick’ Dryblower’s Verses 34: So down at the rubby along the road, / We lunched on steak and eggs.
[Aus]Mail (Adelaide) 16 Feb. 1/4: She says to me, ‘Bill, you’re sure you’re not going to the rubber-dee’ (rubber-dee-dub — pub).
[Aus]Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 62: Rubberdy [...], a public house. Rhyming slang on ‘rub-a-dub-dub’ for ‘pub’ [...] Rubbity [...], a public house.
[US]Maurer & Baker ‘“Aus.” Rhyming Argot’ in AS XIX:3 195/1: Rubbity Rub. [...] A ‘pub.’.
[Aus]West Australian (Perth) 11 Mar. 22/7: A hotel is a rubbedy [...] or rubbedydub, a pub.
[Aus]‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 104: ‘Where’s Jimmy an’ Pat?’ ‘Down the rubbity.’ ‘Bastards.’ [...] ‘What is a rubbity?’ [...] ‘Rubbity-dub.’.
[Aus]D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 101: How about a gargle? Down to the rubberdy, come on.
[Aus]B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 17: I’ve got to shoot through to the local rubbidy for a few ice cold beers.
[Aus]J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 24: I’ll be waiting for you at the rubbity rearin’ to go.
[Aus]S. Gore Holy Smoke 24: Why, you’d just as soon find Him around the rubberdy as not.
[Aus]A. Buzo Rooted II iii: Been down the rubbity lately?
[Aus]B. Wannan Folklore of the Aus. Pub 128: Rubbedy; Rubberdy; Rubbity; Rubby: a pub or other hostelry.
[NZ]N. Hilliard Glory and The Dream 166: ‘Anybody seen Charlie?’ ‘In the rubbity this arfto. He’s probably flakers.’.
[Aus]R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 11: He paid his dump at the Cat and Fiddle hotel. The hallowed boards of the old Star rubbidy had been changed to that name to be in keeping with the area.
[Aus]J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 15: The first news the boys at The Prince Charles rubbady copped about this particular meeting [etc].
[Aus]C. Bowles G’DAY 76: Davo has a dead cert for the trots. It runs like a hairy goat so they go down the rubbedy for a quick one to drown their sorrows.
[NZ]McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 94/2: rubbidy pub, rhyming slang ‘rub-a-dub/pub’; aka rubbity, rubbidy-dub, rubberdy and rubby.
[Aus]J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xxi: The Flea went down to the paper shop just up from the Coogee Bay rubbady.
[Aus]G. Seal Lingo 91: rubbidy-dub, a pub is often shortened to rubbidy, a usage recorded in the late 1890s, though certainly older.
[Aus]Bug (Aus.) 4 Aug. 🌐 That great Australian institution, the Don’t Know Rubbity. (Don’t know how we got here; don’t know how we got home!).
[Aus]Pete’s Aussie Sl. Home Page 🌐 rubbity dub, rubbity: a pub.
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 176: rubbity The pub, as in ‘rubbity-dub’ rhyming slang. C19. Other spellings include rubby/rubberdy/rubbidy/rubbidy dub/rub-a-dub/rubblededub. ANZ late C19.

2. (Aus.) a wash, a ‘scrub’.

Facebook 15 July 🌐 Well this morning I got up had a rubbedy dub, a dad and Dave then racked off to the watering hole for a dogs eye with dead horse.