[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/rubber.html) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / rubber [← R](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/R/) # rubber «rubber» in Mova's school dictionary: **a soft, stretchy material that bounces and keeps water…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it. ### part of speech noun (rubber, a rubber, rubbers); adjective use (a rubber ball, rubber boots) ### meaning for a pupil 1) Rubber is a soft, stretchy material that bounces and keeps water out; it is made from the sap of rubber trees or from chemicals. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#m1) 2) In the UK, Ireland and Australia a rubber is a small block you use to rub out pencil marks; in the USA this is called an eraser. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#m2) 3) Rubber can mean things made of it, such as tyres, boots or gloves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#m3) 4) A rubber can also be a pad or bundle of material used to rub something clean. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#m4) ### sense in the lessons In science rubber is a good example of a stretchy (elastic) material and of an insulator: electricity does not pass through it easily, so tools for electricians have rubber handles. In everyday life it means boots, gloves, bands, balls and tyres; rubber soles grip and stop slipping. At school a pupil may ask to borrow a rubber to fix a mistake. Phrases: rubber band, rubber boots (wellies), rubber gloves, rubber duck, rubber stamp. ### examples - The ball is made of rubber, so it bounces high. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x1) - Can I borrow your rubber? I wrote the wrong number. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x2) - Mum wears rubber gloves to wash the dishes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x3) - Put a rubber band around the cards so they don't fall out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x4) - Rubber does not let electricity pass through it easily. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x5) - My rubber boots kept my feet dry in the puddles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x6) - The car's tyres are made of rubber. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x7) - Rubber comes from a white sap called latex that drips from rubber trees. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x8) - I got heather and I made a rubber of it, and I set him upright in the caldron. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/#x9) ### note As a material it is uncountable (made of rubber, some rubber); as the thing for rubbing out it is countable (a rubber, two rubbers). In the USA say «eraser» — «rubber» there can sound like slang, so pupils in America use «eraser». Not the same as «robber» (a thief). Rubber is not a perfect insulator when wet, so never touch electric things with wet hands even in rubber gloves. ### In the corpora - [The kea is a curious mountain parrot from New Zealand that solves problems, steals food and sometimes pulls rubber off cars.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/206-parrots-talkers-nutcrackers-and-long-lives/14/) - [Eggs, onions and some rubber give off sulphur gases, so silver egg spoons tarnish very quickly.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/14-tarnish-and-how-metals-change/9/) - [Helium atoms are so tiny they slip through the rubber skin of a party balloon, so it shrinks in a few days.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons/6/) - [The story that Goodyear dropped rubber on a hot stove by accident is often told, but the details are not certain.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/35-famous-discoveries-stories/16/) - ["Less-lethal weapon" means a weapon meant not to kill, such as a rubber bullet, which can still kill.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/20/) ### Trees and pragmatics [Every meaning and example of «rubber» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rubber/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.