bring up

present singular third person brings up · participle present bringing up · participle past brought up · past brought up · colloquial dialectal nonstandard participle past brung up · colloquial dialectal nonstandard past brung up

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bring, up: To bring from a lower to a higher position.

   When you're in the basement, can you bring up the paints?

   2 more examples

   "[…]and as Mr. H., with his long purse and his willingness to receive hints, is no bad card in the game, he has been brought up to Abbotsford for a week; his taciturnity has long ago fled, and he is one of the most loquacious Borderers going. […]"

   1951 February, Michael Robbins, “Sir Walter Scott and Two Early Railway Schemes”, in Railway Magazine, page 90

   This case was brought up by writ of error from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey.

   1953, United States Supreme Court, John Den ex dem. Archibald Russell v. The Association of the Jersey Company, reprinted in the United States Reports, volume 56, page 426

2. To mention.

   Don't bring up politics if you want to have a quiet conversation with that guy.

3. To raise or rear (children).

   She did well enough bringing up two sons and a daughter on her own.

   2 more examples

   In the present writer's opinion there was no greater and more successful locomotive engineer in the country, during the first quarter-century, than George Jackson Churchward of the Great Western Railway. This statement is made without prejudice, for I was brought up on the other line extending from Waterloo to Padstow, and between Swindon and Eastleigh there was a great gulf fixed.

   1957 July 28, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Six Decades of Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 471

   ‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”.[…]’.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

4. To uncover, to bring from obscurity; to resurface (e.g. a memory)

   A short Internet search brought up some amazing details of this story.

   Synonyms: bring back

5. To turn on power or start, as of a machine.

   Wait a minute while I bring up my computer.

6. businessTo check (a newly-assembled printed circuit board) for errors.

   Anyone who's been tasked with bringing up a board knows how trying it is.

7. To vomit.

   I was very ill today; I kept bringing up everything I ate.

8. To stop or interrupt a flow or steady motion.

   "No," Maeniel shouted, "No!" trying to distract the man, and lunged toward him. The chain on his ankle brought him up short and he fell on his face.

   1999, Alice Borchardt, Night of the Wolf, Ballantine, →ISBN, page 260

   1 more example

   "[…]Mr. Wolfe, I beg you—I beg of you—" I was sure she was going to cry and I didn't want her to. But Wolfe brusquely brought her up: "That's all, Miss Barstow.[…]"

   1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 91

9. ball gamesTo reach a particular score, especially a milestone.

   Warner smacked a four over midwicket to bring up his century.

10. To legally charge and put on trial; to position (someone) for judgement or examination by authority.

    The book [The Gilded Hearse] was brought up on obscenity charges, partly as a result of the gay content, but a New York magistrate dismissed the charges.

    2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 14

11. obsoletemediaTo level type or make it ready for printing by overlaying it.
12. transitiveTo prepare a vein for an injection.