rub up

Verb

rub up (third-person singular simple present rubs up, present participle rubbing up, simple past and past participle rubbed up)

1. (transitive) To polish or scrub; to cover (something with a substance) by rubbing.
   • 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.
2. (transitive) To rub (a body part): to massage, give a massage to.
   • […] 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,1674, Hannah Woolley, A Supplement to The Queen-like Closet, London: Richard Lownds, page 9
   • Bush’s handlers dragged him into his corner [of the boxing ring] and rubbed him up, not working very hard at it.1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 9, in Red Harvest, New York, N.Y.: Knopf
   1. (intransitive, transitive, with-on) To rub on someone or something.
      • The cat rubbed up on my legs.
3. (transitive) To create (something) by rubbing.
   • to rub up a lather
   • The new shoe rubbed up a blister on the back of his foot.
4. (ambitransitive, dated, informal) To revive one's knowledge of (something); to renew (a skill).
   • I muſt rub up my balancing, and chaſing, and boring.1775 January 17 (first performance), [Richard Brinsley Sheridan], The Rivals, a Comedy. […], London: […] John Wilkie, […], published 1775, →OCLC, Act III, scene [iv], page 54
   • [Y]ou will have a nice quiet day to rest after the journey and rub up your German.1915 October 18, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Little Governess”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 239

   Synonyms:

   bone up, brush up, review, revise

5. (US, slang, transitive) To assault (someone).
   • There was a lot of yelling and gesticulating, and a few blows were passed. A couple of guards got rubbed up a little.1952, Chester Himes, chapter 11, in Cast the First Stone,, New York, N.Y.: Signet, page 107

   Synonyms:

   rough up

6. (obsolete, transitive) To reduce (something) to a powder or paste using friction (with a mortar and pestle, for example); to mix (with something) using friction.
   • to rub up pigments with water or oil
   • [T]hose Europeans, that use their Chocolate ready rubb’d up […]1697, William Dampier, chapter III, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 60
7. (obsolete, transitive) To excite or awaken (something); to revive or reawaken (something).
   • to rub up the memory; to rub up old sores
   • They desire a dead Minister, that would not rub up their consciences,1640, James Ussher, Eighteen Sermons Preached in Oxford, London, published 1660, page 128