rub along

English

Verb

rub along (third-person singular simple present rubs along, present participle rubbing along, simple past and past participle rubbed along)

1. To survive or get by with some difficulty.
   • 1905, Arthur Stanwood Pier, The Ancient Grudge, Chapter 11:

     Mrs. Dinsmore has experienced 'love in a cottage,' and probably has no very idyllic recollections; she knows what it is to rub along with one servant, or even none, and keep up appearances and worry about the next month's rent

2. To get along, to have an amicable relationship.
   • 1922, Nikolai Gogol, translated by Constance Garnett, Dead Souls—A Poem, Chapter XI:

     Though he had at first to rub along in coarse society, he always maintained his inward refinement; he liked the table in the office to be of polished wood, and everything to be on a gentlemanly scale

Synonyms

• rub on

References

• “rub”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.