rub vs shifter

rub

noun
  • An act of rubbing. 

  • A loan. 

  • In the game of crown green bowls, any obstacle by which a bowl is diverted from its normal course. 

  • Any substance designed to be applied by rubbing. 

  • A mixture of spices applied to meat before it is barbecued. 

  • A difficulty or problem. 

verb
  • To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; often with up or over. 

  • To hinder; to cross; to thwart. 

  • To move (one object) while maintaining contact with another object over some area, with pressure and friction. 

  • To touch the jack with the bowl. 

  • To be rubbed against something. 

  • To rub something against (a second thing). 

  • To spread a substance thinly over; to smear. 

shifter

noun
  • A spanner with an adjustable jaw size. 

  • A word whose meaning changes depending on the situation, as by deixis. 

  • A switcher or shunter: a railroad locomotive used for shunting. 

  • One who, or that which, shifts or changes. 

  • An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions. 

  • A component used by the rider to control the gearing mechanisms and select the desired gear ratio, usually connected to the derailleur by a mechanical actuation cable. 

  • An arrangement for shifting a belt sidewise from one pulley to another. 

  • A genre of erotica focusing on lycanthropes or other shapeshifters, such as werewolves. 

  • A person who changes the reality their consciousness resides in, through meditation or other means. 

  • A wire for changing a loop from one needle to another, as in narrowing, etc. 

  • A person employed to repair the horseways and other passages, and keep them unobstructed. 

  • A shape-shifter, or a person or other being capable of changing their physical form. 

How often have the words rub and shifter occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )