soften up
to make or become soft
(tr) to weaken (an enemy's defences) by shelling, bombing, etc
(tr) to weaken the resistance of (a person) by persuasive talk, advances, etc
Words Nearby soften up
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use soften up in a sentence
I declare if the very mention of a woman to some of you old baches don't make your heads soften up like a jellyfish in the sun!
Cy Whittaker's Place | Joseph C. LincolnThere are various kinds of homely women—some who are hideous in blue maybe, but who soften up in pink.
Cheerful--By Request | Edna FerberSkins already dry may be placed either in clear water or tan liquor until they soften up.
Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit | Albert B. FarnhamThree or four days' immersion will usually soften up a very much abused brush.
Practical Carriage and Wagon Painting | Mayton Clarence Hillick“Maybe Mr. Kain will soften up when we take the money to him,” Dan said hopefully.
Dan Carter and the Haunted Castle | Mildred A. Wirt
Other Idioms and Phrases with soften up
Reduce resistance, as in His sales motto was: a fine lunch and a few drinks often will soften up a prospective customer. This expression transfers lessening of physical hardness to lessening mental resistance. It was first used, however, in World War II, where it meant “reduce the enemy's defenses by preliminary bombing.” [c. 1940]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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