rub one's hands together

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Express excitement or anticipation, often in a scheming way

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

bày tỏ sự hào hứng hoặc mong đợi, thường theo cách tính toán

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: the physical act of rubbing one's hands
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

He rubbed his hands together at the prospect of the lucrative deal

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “rub one's hands together” mean?

Express excitement or anticipation, often in a scheming way Literally: the physical act of rubbing one's hands

Is “rub one's hands together” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.