A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

RUB

Sun, 10 Dec '23
Coat for a cookout
Tue, 13 Jun '23
Cause friction
Thu, 26 May '22
Spice ___
Fri, 25 Mar '22
Difficulty
Sun, 16 Jan '22
Chafe
Wed, 2 Jun '21
"There's the ___"
Tue, 20 Apr '21
Barbecue coating
Thu, 25 Feb '21
Central difficulty
Wed, 27 Jan '21
Burnish