rubout
rubout Lexical Profile
rubout Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An act or instance of erasing, obliterating, or deleting something written or printed.
"The handwritten manuscript was full of smudges and hasty rubouts."
North American A premeditated killing or assassination, especially in the context of organized crime (slang).
"Classic noir detective novels of the 1930s frequently featured subplots centered around a syndicate rubout."
In early computing and paper-tape data storage, a special deletion character (specifically ASCII code 127, later known as DEL) used to overwrite and invalidate an erroneously punched character.
"The operator pressed the rubout key on the teletype terminal to cancel the mistyped character on the paper tape."
Word Nuance & Usage
The closed noun 'rubout' (or hyphenated 'rub-out') should be distinguished from the open two-word phrasal verb 'rub out'.