patch up

Definitions

1. To repair by adding a patch.
   idiomatic
2. To mend quickly.
   idiomatic, transitive
3. To repair relations; to improve relations.
   figuratively, idiomatic
4. To overlay.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“I needed to patch up my trousers after ripping them on the brambles.”

“You need⟳ to patch things up with your sister after that horrible argument.”

“But capital was proving difficult to raise⟳; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate⟳ the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash.”

“Nixon was very curious about developments on the Chinese mainland. He particularly wanted to know⟳ whether the Vice-Premier saw⟳ any possibility of Peking and Moscow patching up their feud in the foreseeable future. Chiang Ching-kuo answered in the negative.”

CEFR level