rube

See also: Rube and Rübe

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Generic use of the name Rube.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ro͞ob, IPA(key): /ɹuːb/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːb

Noun

rube (plural rubes)

  1. (US, Canada, informal) A person of rural heritage; a yokel.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:country bumpkin
    • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter VIII, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:
      "Same time," said Babbitt, "no sense excusing these rube burgs too easy. Fellow's own fault if he doesn't show the initiative to up and beat it to the city, like we done—did. [] "
    • 1991, Ted Tally, The Silence of the Lambs (motion picture), spoken by Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins):
      You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste.
  2. (derogatory) An uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈrubɛ]
  • Rhymes: -ubɛ
  • Hyphenation: ru‧be

Etymology 1

Noun

rube

  1. vocative singular of rub

Etymology 2

Verb

rube

  1. third-person singular present indicative of rubat
    Synonym: rubá

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

rube

  1. inflection of rubir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Noun

rube

  1. vocative singular of rubus

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

rube

  1. alternative form of ruby

Etymology 2

Verb

rube

  1. alternative form of rubben

Ternate

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈɾu.be]

Noun

rube

  1. a water jar

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈɾu.be]

Noun

rube

  1. the plant Pouzolzia zeylandica

References

  • Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh