the rubber meets the road
A place or circumstance at which the implementation of a plan or intent is to be achieved.
Now we're getting down to where the rubber meets the road.
rubber
UK /ˈɹʌbə/ US /ˈɹʌbɚ/
noun 9verb 2adj 1
Collocations
5ADJ.
allergic, hard, hard, innocent, old, synthetic, tied, yellow
She's allergic to rubber and has to wear latex-free gloves at work.
VERB + RUBBER
borrow, nurse, place, put, thought, won
She put a rubber band around the rolled-up newspaper before throwing it on the porch.
RUBBER + NOUN
ball, duck, gloves, materials, moment, raft, road, tree
I pulled on my rubber gloves before washing the dishes.
PREP.
around, between, from, on, out, with, without
She stretched the rubber band around the stack of envelopes to keep them together.
ADV.
ever, surely
She surely didn't expect the rubber ball to bounce so high off the garage wall.
Definitions
noun
1
Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.
2
Natural rubber or any of various synthetic materials with similar properties as natural rubber.
3
An eraser.
For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated objects.
Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing, who′d always called rubbers ‘lead eaters’.
4
A condom, especially an external condom.
And the rubbers you hide / In your top left pocket
Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die! Don't have sex in the missionary position, don't have sex standing up, just don't do it, OK, promise? OK, now everybody take some rubbers.
5
Someone or something which rubs.
What perplexity plagues the chin-rubber in the foreground and what so discourages the man leaning on the lamp post? And to what doom is the large man at right moving? Photographer Cowherd has no answers.
adj
1
Not covered by funds on account.
noun
1
In relation to a series of games or matches between two competitors where the overall winner of the series is the competitor which wins a majority of the individual games or matches:
They played, and Creed and his young partner won the first rubber, winning the two first games running.
[…] an old lady's innocent rubber.
2
In relation to a series of games or matches between two competitors where the overall winner of the series is the competitor which wins a majority of the individual games or matches:
Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points.
Montreal’s Francoise Abanda lost the first rubber of the tie 6-2, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova on Saturday
3
A rubber match; a game or match played to break a tie.
4
The game of rubber bridge.
"Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber." "I think you will find that you will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play will be more exciting."
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — contraceptive device consisting of a sheath of thin rubber o
noun — an elastic material obtained from the latex sap of trees (es
- caoutchouc
verb — coat or impregnate with rubber
- rubberize
- rubberise
adjective — returned for lack of funds
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
burn rubber
To accelerate so rapidly from standstill that it leaves a mark of burnt rubber on the road from the tire.
“We’re rammed to the gills with foreigners doing mad shit. You can’t do this to Irish people. I’m getting out of this country, I’m burning rubber. It’s not safe to walk around here
rubber johnny
A condom.
rubber room
A cell lined with cushions used for confinement of a mentally disturbed person.
"If you kept on worrying about being killed you could end up in a rubber room."
rubber hose
A classic animated cartoon style which was first introduced in the early 20th century.
Bill Nolan[…]happened on something that was soon dubbed "rubber hose" animation.
Example Bank
601
For example, they may use paddle pop sticks, hand span, pencils, rubbers, mathematics equipment (i.e. base 10 material) or anything else the teacher can find to measure the lengths of nominated object
Wiktionary02
Drawing materials, he thought, I used to love drawing as a lad. I can afford some plain paper and pencils, surely? And a rubber, too. He smiled at the memory of an elderly uncle, also fond of drawing,
Wiktionary03
Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.
Wiktionary04
They played, and Creed and his young partner won the first rubber, winning the two first games running.
Wiktionary05
[…] an old lady's innocent rubber.
Wiktionary06
Ladies matches shall consist of 6 rubbers. Each rubber shall consist of best of 3 games to 21 points.
WiktionaryUsage Notes
i Register
In some senses, rubber is marked as slang, UK, US. Watch for register when choosing this word.
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