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• beat-up
  beat-up

  adjective

  dilapidated; in poor condition from use.
• beat up
  beat up

  verb

  (tr, adverb) to strike or kick (a person), usually repeatedly, so as to inflict severe physical damage

beat-up

American  

[beet-uhp] / ˈbitˈʌp /

adjective

1. Informal. dilapidated; in poor condition from use.

   a beat-up old jalopy.

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noun

1. the warpwise count of tufts of pile in the warp of carpets.

beat up British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to strike or kick (a person), usually repeatedly, so as to inflict severe physical damage

2. informal to reproach oneself

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adjective

1. worn-out; dilapidated

beat up Idioms  

1. Strike repeatedly, as in She told the police her husband had beaten her up . [ Slang ; first half of 1900s]

2. Also, beat up on . Attack verbally, as in That newspaper article really beat up on the town council . [ Slang ; late 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of beat-up

First recorded in 1935–40; adj., noun use of verb phrase beat up

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beat-up beat up

A TV commercial featured two guys in a beat-up muscle car ogling a Ram truck at a stoplight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

This should provide a badly needed injection of adrenaline to the beat-up small business sector.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026

Sadly, he only sells enough tomes to keep gas in his beat-up van and pursue his calling as Tulsa’s resident “truthstorian,” a blend of journalist and conspiracist.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025

But they’ll get there—in the same way a young car-shopper starts with a beat-up old jalopy, he argued, eventually they’ll walk onto the lot in middle age looking for a pricey new Cadillac.

From Slate ● May 25, 2025

He was addressing Slopper, who kicked rocks with the toe of his beat-up Converse.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

On the flip side, he said, they keep getting beat up by the ocean and costing taxpayers millions of dollars to repair or replace.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

Barron Trump, 19, contacted UK police from the US after allegedly seeing his friend being "beat up" during a video call last year.

From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026

It’s beat up and old, and smells like incense.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025

The Buccaneers are beat up on both sides of the ball, and Baker Mayfield hasn’t been sharp, but desperation can be a powerful healing agent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025

You look hard at most anything, and it’s probably beat up somewhere or other.

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt

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