beef up

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

Sheriff’s police have been deployed on the CTA since the spring, when the mass transit agency beefed up law enforcement staffing at the behest of the federal government. — Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026

Manager Mauricio Pochettino made three second-half substitutions that beefed up the US lineup, sending in Sergiño Dest, Alex Freeman and attacker Alejandro Zendejas. — Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 25 June 2026

Later Friday, South Korea's Defense Ministry announced plans to beef up its drone forces, citing growing military threats by North Korea which allegedly received technology assistance from Russia. — ABC News, 25 June 2026

Chula Vista, Coronado, Poway, San Marcos and Santee adopted ordinances last year to prohibit e-bikes for children younger than 12, and a pilot program under Assembly Bill 2234 beefed up e-bike laws. — Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2026

Rhymes for beef up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup