rake over
verb1
Idiomatic To discuss something unpleasant from the past.
- Tristam Darling [the narrator character] describes Florence by saying, among other things, "She had no bosom, a deficiency I always thought in a woman like a bed without a pillow."(!) Gordon [the author] rakes over every female character in the book in a similar way. No woman is treated positively without being abused.1979 April 28, Flame B. James, “Still Private”, in Gay Community News, page 14:
- Related terms
- dig up