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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

Afterward rake up the sod manually with a square shovel or pitchfork.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 21, 2020

“Well, b’lieve Ah’ll rake up de front yard. De mens is got cane chewin’s and peanut hulls all over de place. Don’t want de doctah tuh come back heah and find it still de same.”

From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston

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