soften up
verb1
To make softer.
2
Broadly, Idiomatic To appease someone in order to make them more receptive to an idea or proposal.
3
To become less committed to something.
- That was what Agnes thought at two o'clock in the afternoon, but by evening she had softened up some.1994, J.A. Jance, Death of a Snowbird:
- Synonyms
- to butter up
- Derived terms
- soften up the ground