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
By the mid-50s, Chrysler beefed up the 331 cubic inch engines into 392 cubic inch V-8s, stuffing them beneath the hoods of New Yorkers and Imperials.
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Liam Rappleye, Freep.com, 3 Oct. 2025
After multiple recent incursions by drones and aircraft into NATO airspace, the alliance is beefing up its presence in Eastern Europe, to counter Russia’s threat.
—Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
The violence once might have led synagogues, mosques and churches to rush to beef up security.
—Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
After the 2016 robbery, a source told PEOPLE that Kim would be beefing up her security.
—Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for beef up
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Liam Rappleye, Freep.com, 3 Oct. 2025
After multiple recent incursions by drones and aircraft into NATO airspace, the alliance is beefing up its presence in Eastern Europe, to counter Russia’s threat.
—Frederik Pleitgen, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
The violence once might have led synagogues, mosques and churches to rush to beef up security.
—Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
After the 2016 robbery, a source told PEOPLE that Kim would be beefing up her security.
—Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for beef up
Cite this Entry
“Beef up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beef%20up. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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