beef up

English

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beef up

Where it comes from

Originally college slang, from beef (“muscle-power”).

verb beefs up · beefing up · beefed up

slang, transitive To strengthen or reinforce; to add substance to. We need to beef up security around the airport.

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MLA

"beef up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/beef%20up. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

beef up. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/beef%20up

Chicago

"beef up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/beef%20up.

BibTeX

@misc{beef_up_2026,
  title = {beef up},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/beef%20up},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}