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• beef-up
  beef-up

  noun

  an act or instance of strengthening or reinforcing.
• beef up
  beef up

  Strengthen, reinforce, as in Mary wants us to beef up her part in the play. This phrase relies on an older slang sense of beef as “muscles” or “power.” [Colloquial; late 1800s]

beef-up

American  

[beef-uhp] / ˈbifˌʌp /

noun

1. an act or instance of strengthening or reinforcing.

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beef up Idioms  

1. Strengthen, reinforce, as in Mary wants us to beef up her part in the play. This phrase relies on an older slang sense of beef as “muscles” or “power.” [Colloquial; late 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of beef-up

Noun use of verb phrase beef up

Example Sentences

If he was forgettable, the Seahawks’ brass would face an easy decision: Beef up this team through the draft and use the salary-cap space to shore up as many weaknesses as possible.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 28, 2023

Beef up your desktop audio without taking up space with these mini speakers from Creative.

From The Verge • Nov. 23, 2021

Beef up your contractual language to set expectations on what you expect from them and to assure that you can “verify” terms of the agreement and their in place controls at will. 

From Forbes • Sep. 25, 2014

Beef up the Green Goblin and other villains.

From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2011

Beef up the police,’ ” said former Los Angeles County sheriff’s assistant chief Neal Tyler, who helped develop the first computerized early-warning system.

From Washington Post