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.
That set off days of intensive efforts using boats to make waves, then excavators to dig up sand and free the whale, as fears grew for its life.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
The company also initially wanted him to dig up the driveway he poured seven years ago, he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026
OTTAWA—A Canadian company is pushing ahead with work to develop what it says to be the country’s first major source of alumina, tapping into an appetite to dig up more of Canada’s abundant natural resources.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026
Own shares of the companies that dig up what China needs.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 16, 2025
He would dig up the potatoes by hand if he had to.
From "Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner
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.
