beef up
phrasal verb
beefed up; beefing up; beefs up
informal
: to add weight, strength, or power to (something)
Security around the city will be beefed up during the event.
a politician looking to beef his image up
Examples of beef up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
General manager Bill Zito beefed up the roster with three key defenseman signings — Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov — to help offset the early absences of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour.
—
Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 2 June 2024
By Ashleigh Furlong / Bloomberg May 20, 2024 4:50 AM EDT
AstraZeneca Plc plans to build a $1.5 billion manufacturing facility in Singapore to make antibody-drug conjugates as the U.K. drugmaker pushes to beef up its ability to produce the next-generation cancer treatments.
—TIME, 20 May 2024
That includes beefing up the city’s homelessness outreach teams, as part of the work to clear encampments from waterways.
—Kate Talerico, The Mercury News, 7 May 2024
The Steelers pounce here to beef up an already imposing running game.
—C.j. Doon, Baltimore Sun, 7 Mar. 2024
As a result, the agency was beefed up with new personnel, many of whom were recruited from the Spetsnaz—military special forces who were traditionally supervised by the GRU.
—Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 12 May 2023
The Office of Professional Responsibility has since beefed up its operations, nearly doubling its investigator workforce, but questions remain about the office’s independence, especially because more than half of those new hires are former Border Patrol agents, according to the GAO report.
—Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2024
American’s chief operating officer, David Seymour, said the airline has beefed up its staffing and technology in preparation for the seasonal rush.
—David Koenig, Fortune, 23 May 2024
The city also beefed up its non-police emergency response and encouraged the use of telephone or online reporting systems for smaller concerns.
—Darcy Costello, Baltimore Sun, 22 Mar. 2024
Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 2 June 2024
By Ashleigh Furlong / Bloomberg May 20, 2024 4:50 AM EDT
AstraZeneca Plc plans to build a $1.5 billion manufacturing facility in Singapore to make antibody-drug conjugates as the U.K. drugmaker pushes to beef up its ability to produce the next-generation cancer treatments.
—TIME, 20 May 2024
That includes beefing up the city’s homelessness outreach teams, as part of the work to clear encampments from waterways.
—Kate Talerico, The Mercury News, 7 May 2024
The Steelers pounce here to beef up an already imposing running game.
—C.j. Doon, Baltimore Sun, 7 Mar. 2024
As a result, the agency was beefed up with new personnel, many of whom were recruited from the Spetsnaz—military special forces who were traditionally supervised by the GRU.
—Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 12 May 2023
The Office of Professional Responsibility has since beefed up its operations, nearly doubling its investigator workforce, but questions remain about the office’s independence, especially because more than half of those new hires are former Border Patrol agents, according to the GAO report.
—Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2024
American’s chief operating officer, David Seymour, said the airline has beefed up its staffing and technology in preparation for the seasonal rush.
—David Koenig, Fortune, 23 May 2024
The city also beefed up its non-police emergency response and encouraged the use of telephone or online reporting systems for smaller concerns.
—Darcy Costello, Baltimore Sun, 22 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beef up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Beef up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beef%20up. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
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