ruben.adj.
/ruːb/, U.S. /rub/ colloquial (originally and chiefly North American). Mildly derogatory.
A. n.
An unsophisticated person from the country; a yokel, a hick. Cf. Reuben n.1hey, Rube!: see hey int. 3e.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > peasant or rustic > [noun] > rude or ignorant
chuffc1440
mobarda1450
lob1533
lobcocka1556
clown1565
hick1565
bumpkin1570
swad1572
peasant1576
hob-clunch1578
hoblob1582
clubhutchen1584
bacon1598
boor1598
hobbinol1600
homespun1600
loblolly lamb1600
lob-coat1604
loblolly1604
hobnail1645
champkina1652
bacon-slicer1653
jobson1660
hob-thrush1682
country put1688
put1688
country cousin1692
clodhopper1699
hawbuck1787
Johnny Raw1803
joskin1811
yokel1819
whopstraw1821
chaw-bacon1822
lobeline1844
country jake1845
Hoosier1846
hayseed1851
Reuben1855
scissorbill1876
agricole1882
country jay1888
rube1891
jasper1896
farmer1903
stump jumper1936
woop woop1936
potato head1948
no-neck1961
1891 L. Hawkins Boom Ta-rah! in Delaney's Song Bk. (1892) No. 1. 8/2 The Rube at me four aces flings.
1896 G. Ade Artie i. 8 If I had time I'd go over to that church and make a lot o' them Reubs look like thirty-cent pieces.
1923 M. Sadleir Desolate Splendour 33 A girl rube from the Canadian backwoods.
1956 W. R. Bird Off-trail in Nova Scotia iii. 69 Don't try to talk down to someone you meet in those places no matter if they look like rubes for ten to one they've seen more of the world than you have.
1973 J. Gores Final Notice xxiv. 158 The rube who wanders into the pool hall and loses a few games... Then the bets get bigger and he..starts clearing tables.
2006 Independent 29 Nov. (Extra section) 6/2 Just as rubes want..to see if The Big Apple is as fabulous as they say it is, urbanites like me want to see if the Grand Canyon is as deep as reported.
B. adj. (attributive).
Of or relating to a rube or rubes; of the nature of or characteristic of a rube; unsophisticated; countrified.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > unaffectedness or naturalness > [adjective] > unsophisticated
plainc1425
homelyc1426
homespun1590
brown bread1606
unsophisticate1607
simple1613
uncompounded1615
uncourtlike1659
unsophisticated1665
russet-coated1683
buff1792
unvarnished1827
rube1898
cracker-barrel1933
haimish1957
bakya1960
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > peasant or rustic > [adjective]
churlisha1000
ruric1488
rural1513
rusticalc1525
peasant1550
peasantly1569
clownish1570
rustic1576
shepherdly1579
russet1598
clownical1614
clown-likea1640
nut-brown1648
countrified1653
high-shoon1654
Corydonical1656
high-shod1656
sylvatic1661
villatic1671
russet-coated1683
one-gallus1881
one-gallused1887
red-necked1896
rube1898
takhaar1899
backwoodsya1910
swede-bashing1936
backwoodish1946
1898 Si Stebbins' Card Tricks: Supplemented 24 One morning during the Garden engagement I started from 30th St. and Broadway dressed in my rube togs, and walked to the post office.
1900 G. Ade Fables in Slang 10 Alas, the Rube Town in which she Hung Forth was given over to Croquet.
1956 H. D. Wade Establishm. Texas Technol. Coll. viii. 108 There were Boy Scout bands from Plainview and San Angelo,..and a rube band from Big Spring.
1976 Time 20 Dec. 17/1 They were an unsolemn pair, the young man who likes his rube image and the impeccably dressed man.
2000 Country Music People May 5/2 A black-toothed rube comic, garbed in a yellow checkered suit, green derby and high-buttoned shoes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.1891