wear off vs rub down

wear off and rub down both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
wear off	No	No	Yes	No
rub down	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, rub down is a hyponym of wear off; that is, rub down is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than wear off:

Other hyponyms of wear off include abrade, abrase, corrade, rub off.

wear off (verb)	rub down (verb)
deteriorate through use or stress	wear away
diminish, as by friction	manually manipulate (someone's body), usually for medicinal or relaxation purposes