dredge up
phr. v..phr. v.. to talk about or remember something unpleasant from the past that people have forgotten.
phr. v.. to mention or recall an unpleasant event or memory from the past, typically one that others would prefer to remain forgotten; often used metaphorically in the context of investigative or emotional retrieval.
Why do you have to dredge up old arguments?
The journalist managed to dredge up some scandals from the politician's college days that everyone had long forgotten.
By reopening the cold case, the detective inadvertently dredged up painful memories for the victims' families that had taken decades to suppress.
usually takes an abstract object like memories, scandals, or the past.
anchor the meaning with the literal sense of 'dredging' a riverbed to find mud or trash; this helps students visualize pulling something 'dirty' from the bottom of the past.
He dredged up to the old story.He dredged up the old story.the verb is transitive and takes a direct object without an extra preposition like 'to'.