beef-up

[ beef-uhp ]

noun

1. an act or instance of strengthening or reinforcing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of beef-up¹

Noun use of verb phrase beef up

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

Trump brought his beef up again during an appearance Sunday on Fox News’ “Media Buzz.”

From Los Angeles Times

The Forest Service has been working to beef up its night flying operations, including by changing policy in Region 5 so that its employees can fly in contract aircraft to gain experience in nighttime aerial supervision, she said.

From Los Angeles Times

He has vowed to beef up the internal vetting of candidates, telling reporters: “The electorate punished us for having these bad apples in there. We can’t be clearer: if you are a racist bigot, there are other people you could be attracted to but it’s not us.”

From BBC

Scott Budnick, a member of a state board that oversees correctional facilities, said he has noticed programming start to beef up recently at Nidorf, though he says teens still spend an “outrageous amount of time just sitting in units playing video games, watching TV.”

From Los Angeles Times

If your pension doesn’t meet those standards, then you should beef up your savings with an IRA.

From Slate