rub up

verb

rubbed up; rubbing up; rubs up

transitive verb

1
: to revive or refresh knowledge of : recall
2
: to improve the keenness of (a mental faculty)

Examples of rub up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web As a type, there is something of the frontier sheriff or noir detective in the exorcist, someone who has rubbed up against seamy outlaws and knows their wiles. Sam Kestenbaum, Harper's Magazine, 21 June 2024 Experiment with what feels best — pressing down on it with the pads of your fingers or your palms, using your fingertips to rub in a wide circle around it, rubbing up and down over it. Molly Longman, refinery29.com, 8 Apr. 2024 As the ash particles rub up against one another, their atoms shed or pick up electrons, which creates positively and negatively charged areas of the ash plume, according to the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 May 2024 The push is about what can grow in the space between the real and the imagined; Leichter has stitched together a narrative that purposely, beautifully, doesn’t quite hang together, one where raw emotion rubs up against fantastical possibility. Mark Athitakis, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2023 See all Example Sentences for rub up 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rub 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

circa 1571, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of rub up was circa 1571

Dictionary Entries Near rub up

Cite this Entry

“Rub up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rub%20up. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

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