rub up
Britishverb
-
to refresh one's memory (of)
-
(tr) to smooth or polish
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.
But dreams of seamless cross-country journeys rub up against a fragmented network broken into national systems that critics say create hurdles and pushes up costs.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
Levy: With every character, at the beginning of this show, I’m thinking, how can we exacerbate the dire circumstances that crime would rub up against?
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
In that extreme environment, the largest and smallest things in the universe rub up against one another.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 22, 2023
As the star swelled, a companion object began to rub up against its outer layers, heating them up and causing them to brighten in the infrared.
From Science Magazine ● May 3, 2023
I felt it rub up against my bare skin and had to turn my face away from the blinding light that came next—a flash burn that erased anything and everything that stood in its way.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
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.
