E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Rip.
To rip up old grievances or sores. To bring them again to recollection, to recall them. The allusion is to breaking up a place in search of something hidden and out of sight. (Anglo-Saxon.)
1
“They ripped up all that had been done from the beginning of the Rebellion.”—Clarendon.
