Word.ws English Dictionary

scrubbing up

scrubbing up is the present participle and gerund of scrub up.

Meaning of scrub up

Verb

scrub up (third-person singular simple present scrubs up, present participle scrubbing up, simple past and past participle scrubbed up)

  1. To clean or wash by scrubbing.
    • I got the counter scrubbed up before moving on to the floors.
    Synonyms:
    scrub, scrub down
    1. Synonym of scrub in (To thoroughly wash one's hands and forearms in preparation for performing a surgery.)
      • It's time to start scrubbing up for my next surgery.
  2. (UK, informal) To become clean, handsome, smart in appearance, such as for a special occasion, especially when it is out of character to be seen as such.
    • He scrubs up well.

Questions about scrubbing up

What is scrubbing up the present participle and gerund of?
Scrubbing up is the present participle and gerund of scrub up.

Words near scrubbing up in the dictionary

  1. scrubbing brush
  2. scrubbing brushes
  3. scrubbing down
  4. scrubbing in
  5. scrubbing out
  6. scrubbing up
  7. scrubbings
  8. scrubbird
  9. scrubbirds
  10. scrubboard
  11. scrubboards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scrubbing up (page history and authors); scrub up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “scrubbing up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scrubbing_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.