From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbone up on something phrasal verbSTUDYto learn as much as you can about a subject, because you need the knowledge, for example for an examination I have to bone up on criminal law for a test next week. → bone→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
bone up on • A really thorough murderer would have boned up on both subjects more intently.• So if you hate the theory so much, how come you're so boned up on it?• Bob Djurdjevic bones up on pork belly futures.• Talk about boning up on sorrow.• Listeners preparing to bone up on the one-act Strauss shocker opening Oct. 18 should consider this Vienna production.• I spent the time before it boning up on things like Troops Out.• In his first day, Bulger began boning up on university business and spoke by phone with campus chancellors. 