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rake up

British  

verb

  1. (tr, adverb) to revive, discover, or bring to light (something forgotten)

    to rake up an old quarrel

"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

rake up Idioms  
  1. Revive, bring to light, especially something unpleasant, as in She was raking up old gossip. [Late 1500s]


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.

See Examples For:

There could also be a feeling that it's "tawdry" to rake up these claims so many years later, he says.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The giant planets brawl among themselves, too, competing to rake up excess material and grow more giant still, sometimes ejecting the unlucky losers from the system in a “last planets standing” melee.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 19, 2023

As we rake up leaves and pods from our neighbor’s tree every fall, we remind ourselves what a gift the shade was all summer.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 28, 2022

Golf course workers often can siphon out the water and rake up the sand to make it playable.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2012

Would they not rake up the past and find clues that had led to my fate?

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

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