Wiktionary
vb. To form small teams, especially pairs, often to reduce the likelihood of an individual suffering harm without being noticed or to suit the nature of a task to be accomplished.
Usage examples of "buddy up".
Richie would have liked to tell the kid you didn't try to cheer Buddy up when he was in a mood like this.
The attendant knew better than to try to buddy up: Sloat had verbally peeled the man's hide weeks ago, after discovering a tiny wrinkle in the BMW's door.
Twinkie did buddy up to quite a few sorority girls, and one of them might have asked her to track down that license plate number .
He's doing his best to buddy up to the lawyers in the District Attorney's Office, and he's managed to persuade some half-wit over there that he's the resident expert on serial murders.
But a couple hundred dollars' worth of plywood, a few two-by-fours and some tin and cardboard, Bill can throw this buddy up again and start rentin'.
I had to buddy up with someone who understood the suicidal pull of that third-floor lounge, and how the blood surged when someone started playing spades in an effort to force The Bitch.
I'm sure my beefy buddy up front was tickled down to the tips of his muscle-bound toes.
If two people lost their buddies, they were supposed to buddy up with each other.