rug beater
- noun
- /rʌɡ ˈbiːtər/
- Archaic
- The rug beater fell off the shelf.
Examples
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She used a rug beater to clean the carpet.
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She took the old rug beater off the hook and went outside to clean the mat.
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Before vacuum cleaners were common, people used a rug beater to clean their carpets.
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The antique shop had a collection of vintage rug beaters hanging on the wall.
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The housekeeper used a rug beater to remove the dust from the carpet.
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To clean the living room, she grabbed her rug beater and got to work.
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He swiftly struck the carpet with a rug beater, sending dust flying into the air.
Synonyms
A small hand tool for beating dust out of rugs
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'rug' (a carpet) + 'beater' (an instrument for beating); the compound simply denotes an instrument used to beat a rug to remove dust. This noun--noun composition is productive and transparent in English (and parallels exist in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The compound noun rug beater comes from the simple image of hitting a rug to remove dirt: people would take a rug outside and use a tool called a beater to hit it so the 'dust' flew out. That's why a rug beater means a handheld tool used to 'clean' carpets.