rub up
verb
rubbed up; rubbing up; rubs up
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 
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.
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Cite this Entry
“Rub up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rub%20up. Accessed 19 Sep. 2024.
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