Jump To:

• 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.

---

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

---

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]

---

Etymology

Origin of beat-up

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beat-up beat up

If there are racecars, sports cars, and beat-up jalopies alike, are the cars born into their occupation?

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

By high school it was Dr. Dre, bass rattling the rearview mirror of my beat-up white Monte Carlo—raw, confrontational, impossible to ignore.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026

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

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026

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

So what if I suffered from full-fledged panic attacks every time I drove our beat-up '88 Camry through the winding, narrow roads to my new temporary digs?

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

After the incident, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agent was "beat up" and "bruised", adding ICE officers were "following protocols that we have used for years" from before the Trump administration.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2026

The concern is the idea of Josh Allen, as beat up as he is, putting the team on his back yet again, this time against a rested team and at altitude.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026

“I would say that our agent is beat up, he’s bruised, he’s injured, he’s getting treatment,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Thursday, saying the agency was “thankful that he made it out alive.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026

Another wrote, “People driving beat up, dime a dozen F150s have ruined it for people who were doing genuine restorations and such.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

The Morthond Vale made a great bay that beat up against the sheer southern faces of the mountains.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Related Words

• batter