dig up
Idioms-
Search out, find, obtain, as in I'm sure I can dig up a few more supporters . [Mid-1800s]
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. Find derogatory information about someone or something. For example, The editor assigned him to dig up all the dirt on the candidates . The slangy use of the noun dirt for “embarrassing or scandalous information” dates from about 1840, but this metaphoric expression is a century newer.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Jill is a keen gardener but she said she had stopped digging up the land over fears around contamination.
From BBC
Dozens of people have now descended on the area and have been digging up the fenced area where the cows were once penned in, hoping to strike it rich.
From BBC
The company also initially wanted him to dig up the driveway he poured seven years ago, he said.
From Los Angeles Times
“Because they’re trying to dig up the past to put it in display boxes. I’m trying to unearth magic.”
From Literature
On impulse, one of the men went inside for a shovel, and he and his friend began digging up sidewalk stones with the idea of making a little garden.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
