Meaning of rub up | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To polish or scrub; to cover (something with a substance) by rubbing.
   transitive
2. To rub (a body part): to massage, give a massage to.
   transitive
3. To create (something) by rubbing.
   transitive
4. To revive one's knowledge of (something); to renew (a skill).
   ambitransitive, dated, informal
5. To assault (someone).
   US, slang, transitive
6. To reduce (something) to a powder or paste using friction (with a mortar and pestle, for example); to mix (with something) using friction.
   obsolete, transitive
7. To excite or awaken (something); to revive or reawaken (something).
   obsolete, transitive

Examples

“I rubbed up the brass buttons on my jacket to make them shine.”

“The pitcher rubs up the new baseball with dirt to get a better grip.”

“Stains that come not by Grease are taken out by boiling Lemon-peel in Small-beer, with a little Copperas, till it be very strong of them: then with a hard Brush rub up the place with it,”

“Here’s a new guest for you; so clean up your house, rub up the mohogany table […]”

“[…] my next [aim was] to rub it [Moor-House] up with beeswax, oil, and an indefinite number of cloths, till it glitters again;”

“[T]here’s all the silver to be rubbed up yet […]”

“[…] every Morning when you Comb your head, dip a sponge in this water and rub up your Hair, and it will keep it clean and preserve it,”

“Bush’s handlers dragged him into his corner [of the boxing ring] and rubbed him up, not working very hard at it.”

“to rub up a lather”

“The new shoe rubbed up a blister on the back of his foot.”

“I muſt rub up my balancing, and chaſing, and boring.”

“[Y]ou will have a nice quiet day to rest after the journey and rub up your German.”

“[Y]ou'll have to rub up on the other sort of navigation now. How long is it since you used a sextant?”

“There was a lot of yelling and gesticulating, and a few blows were passed. A couple of guards got rubbed up a little.”

“to rub up pigments with water or oil”

“[T]hose Europeans, that use their Chocolate ready rubb’d up […]”

“[The bursar] poured out a glass of sherry into a tumbler, and rubbed it up with an egg and a little sugar.”

“[Crude mercury] may be concealed in a pill by rubbing it up with anything of which you can make a paste fit for pills;”

“to rub up the memory; to rub up old sores”

“They desire a dead Minister, that would not rub up their consciences,”

“It’s a vexation to them when they would sleep securely, to have their consciences rubbing up and reviving their fears.”

“Sir Will. What do you mean Gentlemen? / Emil. Only to rub up you[r] Courage a little.”

“[L]est I should be negligent, Mr. Garrick sent for me to rub up my attention, fearing I might like a lazy centinel sleep on my post:”

CEFR level