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beef-up

American  
[beef-uhp] / ˈbifˌʌp /

noun

  1. an act or instance of strengthening or reinforcing.

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]

Etymology

Origin of beef-up

Noun use of verb phrase beef up

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.