brush up to
C1 neutral intransitive
In simple words
To move really close to someone, almost touching them.
Literal meaning: To brush (lightly touch) upward or alongside something, moving physically close to it.
Meanings
1 C1 neutral
To move physically close to a person or object, making slight incidental contact.
"She brushed up to him as she passed through the crowded hallway."
2 C1
idiomatic
informal
To approach someone closely in a deliberate, sometimes flirtatious or presumptuous way.
"The stranger brushed up to me at the bar and whispered something I couldn't hear."
Usage notes
Relatively uncommon; often used to describe deliberate but casual closeness to a person, sometimes with a flirtatious or stealthy connotation.
Commonly used with
someone wall stranger crowd arm
Forms
Base
brush up to
I/you/we/they
3rd person
brushes up to
he/she/it
Past simple
brushed up to
yesterday
Past participle
brushed up to
have + pp
-ing form
brushing up to
continuous
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Synonyms
sidle up to edge up to move close to press against inch toward
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