Rubber vs Plastic - What's the difference?
rubber | plastic |
(uncountable) Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon polymer of isoprene.
(uncountable, countable) Synthetic materials with the same properties as natural rubber.
(countable, UK) An eraser.
* 2006 , Lisa Kervin, Research for Educators ,
* 2010 , Anna Jacobs, Beyond the Sunset ,
* 2011 , Patrick Lindsay, The Spirit of the Digger , Revised edition,
(countable, North America, slang) A condom.
Not covered by funds on account.
(countable) Someone or something which rubs.
* 1949 , LIFE (11 July 1949, page 21)
(countable, baseball) The rectangular pad on the pitcher's mound from which the pitcher must pitch.
(North America, in the plural) Water resistant shoe covers, galoshes, overshoes.
(uncountable, slang) Tires, particularly racing tires.
(sports) A series of an odd number of games or matches of which a majority must be won (thus precluding a tie), especially a match consisting of the best of a series of three games in bridge or whist.
* 1907 May 25, in The Publishers' Weekly , number 1843, page 1608 [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCADAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22her%20grand-aunt%22&pg=PA1608#v=onepage&q=%22her%20grand-aunt%22&f=false]:
(sports) A game or match played to break a tie.
The game of rubber bridge.
(obsolete) A sculptor, moulder.
(archaic) Any solid but malleable substance.
A synthetic, thermoplastic, solid, hydrocarbon-based polymer.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Any similar synthetic material, not necessarily thermoplastic.
(colloquial) Credit or debit cards used in place of cash to buy goods and services.
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(slang) Fakeness, or a person who is fake or arrogant, or believes that they are better than the rest of the population.
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Capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant.
* 1749 , (Henry Fielding), , Folio Society 1973, p. 103:
* 1898 , Journal of Microscopy (page 256)
* 2012 , Adam Zeman, ‘Only Connect’, Literary Review , issue 399:
(dated) Creative, formative.
* Prior
* Alexander Pope
(biology) Capable of adapting to varying conditions; characterized by environmental adaptability.
Of or pertaining to the inelastic, non-brittle, deformation of a material.
Made of plastic.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=Foreword Inferior or not the real thing; ersatz.
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* {{quote-book, title=The pirate's dilemma: how youth culture is reinventing capitalism
, page=, author=Matt James Mason, year=2008, passage=Frustrated by a globalized music industry force-feeding them plastic pop music, hackers, remixers, and activists began to mobilize...}}
(slang) Fake, snobbish. Usually refers to a person.
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As nouns the difference between rubber and plastic
is that rubber is (uncountable) pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon polymer of isoprene or rubber can be (sports) a series of an odd number of games or matches of which a majority must be won (thus precluding a tie), especially a match consisting of the best of a series of three games in bridge or whist while plastic is (obsolete) a sculptor, moulder.As a verb rubber
is to eavesdrop on a telephone call.As an adjective plastic is
capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant.rubber
English
(wikipedia rubber)Etymology 1
The substance was originally named for its ability to function as an eraser. The senses not having to do with rubbing or erasing are secondarily derived from the name of the substance.Noun
(en-noun)page 148,
- 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.
unnumbered page,
- 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’.
unnumbered page,
- Stan stole a diary and some pens, pencils, ink and rubbers during his early days as a POW working on the Singapore docks.
- 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.
- Jones toes the rubber and then fires to the plate.
- Johnny, don't forget your rubbers today.
- Jones enters the pits to get new rubber .
Synonyms
* (condom) see .Derived terms
* rubber band * rubber bullet * rubberize * rubber johnny * rubber jungle * rubber plant * rubber policeman * rubber room * rubber tree * rubberyEtymology 2
Origin unknown.Noun
(en noun)- an old lady's innocent rubber .
- "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."
See also
* burn rubber * dead rubberEtymology 3
plastic
English
Alternative forms
* plastick (archaic)Noun
(en noun)Welcome to the plastisphere, passage=Plastics' are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine ' plastic , too.}}
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* bioplastic * plastic explosiveAdjective
(en adjective)- the rage betook itself at last to certain missile weapons; which, though from their plastic nature they threatened neither the loss of life or of limb, were, however, sufficiently dreadful to a well-dressed lady.
- Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.
- while the broad pattern of connections between brain regions is similar in every healthy human brain, their details – their number, size and strength – are thought to underpin our individuality, as synapses are ‘plastic ’, shaped by experience.
- the plastic hand of the Creator
- See plastic Nature working to his end.
citation, passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}