brush up

brush ¹  (brsh)

n.

1.

a. A device consisting of bristles fastened into a handle, used in scrubbing, polishing, or painting.

b. The act of using this device.

2. A light touch in passing; a graze.

3. An instance of contact with something undesirable or dangerous: a brush with the law; a brush with death.

4. A bushy tail: the brush of a fox.

5. A sliding connection completing a circuit between a fixed and a moving conductor.

6. A snub; a brushoff.

v. brushed, brush·ing, brush·es

v.tr.

1.

a. To clean, polish, or groom with a brush.

b. To apply with or as if with motions of a brush.

c. To remove with or as if with motions of a brush.

2. To dismiss abruptly or curtly: brushed the matter aside; brushed an old friend off.

3. To touch lightly in passing; graze against.

v.intr.

1. To use or apply a brush.

2. To move past something so as to touch it lightly.

Phrasal Verbs:

brush back Baseball

To force (a batter) to move away from the plate by throwing an inside pitch.

brush up

1. To refresh one's memory.

2. To renew a skill.

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[Middle English brusshe, from Old French brosse, brushwood, brush; see brush².]

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brusher n.

brushy adj.

Synonyms: brush¹, flick¹, glance¹, graze², shave, skim
These verbs mean to make light contact with something in passing: Her arm brushed mine. I flicked the paper with my finger. The arrow glanced off the tree. The knife blade grazed the countertop. A taxi shaved the curb. The oar skims the pond's surface.

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brush ²  (brsh)

n.

1.

a. A dense growth of bushes or shrubs.

b. Land covered by such a growth.

2. Cut or broken branches.

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[Middle English brusshe, from Old French brosse, brushwood, from Vulgar Latin *bruscia, perhaps from Latin bruscum, knot on a maple.]

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brushy adj.

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brush up

vb (adverb)

1. (tr; often foll by on) to refresh one's knowledge, skill, or memory of (a subject)

2. to make (a person or oneself) tidy, clean, or neat as after a journey

n brush-up

Brit the act or an instance of tidying one's appearance (esp in the phrase wash and brush-up)

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	brush up - refresh one's memory; "I reviewed the material before the test" refresh, review recall, recollect, remember, call back, call up, retrieve, think - recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection; "I can't remember saying any such thing"; "I can't think what her last name was"; "can you remember her phone number?"; "Do you remember that he once loved you?"; "call up memories"
	2.	brush up - bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state; "polish your social manners" polish up, round off, polish, round perfect, hone - make perfect or complete; "perfect your French in Paris!"

Translations

? brush up

vt sep

crumbs, dirt → auffegen, aufkehren

wool, nap → aufrauen, rauen (form)

(fig: also brush up on) subject, one’s German → auffrischen