bone up
(Redirected from bone up on)
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]bone up (third-person singular simple present bones up, present participle boning up, simple past and past participle boned up)
- (intransitive, slang) To study or cram, especially in order to refresh one's knowledge of a topic.
- 1913, William Christian Schmeisser, Are You Going To College?, page 132:
- Information acquired in that way, makes an impression ; this "boning" up for an examination is all right as a finishing touch, but it will not last.
- 1914, Kathleen Norris, chapter 2, in Saturday's Child:
- Here's your chance to bone up on the segregating, or crediting, or whatever you call it.
- 2004 September 14, Kate Novack, “Fashion Literacy”, in Time:
- Now is the perfect time to bone up on your fashion history.
Usage notes
[edit]- In contemporary usage bone up is intransitive and often followed by on, or for, but in dated usage it was sometimes used with a direct object, as in:
- 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 17, in Indiscretions of Archie:
- My idea was to get this book and coach the dear old chap. Rehearse him, don't you know. He could bone up the early chapters a bit and then drift round and try his convincing talk on me.