bone up

verb

boned up; boning up; bones up

intransitive verb

1
: to try to master necessary information quickly : cram
bone up for the exam
2
: to renew one's skill or refresh one's memory
boned up on the speech just before giving it

Examples of bone up in a Sentence

I suggest you bone up a bit on torts before the next attempt at the bar exam.
Recent Examples on the Web In preparation for filming, Murray had been boning up on screenwriting guru Robert McKee’s rules of story structure. Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker, 15 June 2024 Encouraged by stern but fatherly Nippon proprietor Takahashi-san (Masahiro Motoki), Kristofer begins helping with kitchen prep and then proves a quick study, boning up on Japanese cooking techniques while also teaching himself the basics of the language. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 June 2024 The frames still manage to feel highly composed, as if the actors have been blocked to within an inch of their lives; Glazer has clearly boned up on his Haneke. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024 Natalie Portman is Elizabeth, who, in a genuinely ludicrous plot mechanism, decides to bone up for her role playing Gracie in an upcoming movie by hanging out with the whole family for a few days like some kind of emotional vampire. David Faris, theweek, 13 Feb. 2024 See all Example Sentences for bone up 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bone up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1873, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of bone up was in 1873

Dictionary Entries Near bone up

Cite this Entry

“Bone up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bone%20up. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.

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