Phrasal verb
beef up
Definition
phrasal verb. to make something stronger or more powerful by adding extra people, equipment, or features.
phrasal verb. to augment or strengthen a system, organisation, or object by adding resources, personnel, or components; transitive.
Examples
“They beef up security before the concert.”
“The company plans to beef up its IT team after last week’s cyber-attack.”
“Governments often beef up border controls during periods of heightened geopolitical tension.”
Examples
simple
“They beef up security before the concert.”
contextual
“The company plans to beef up its IT team after last week’s cyber-attack.”
complex
“Governments often beef up border controls during periods of heightened geopolitical tension.”
Usage
common collocations: beef up security, staff, defences, resume, infrastructure.
Teaching tip
stress that the object normally follows the particle; contrast with ‘scale up’ (focus on size) and ‘tighten up’ (focus on strictness).
Pitfall
They beefed security up.
They beefed up security.
particle ‘up’ must precede the object; this verb is inseparable.
Etymology
Originally college slang, from beef (“muscle-power”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Phrasal verb
Particles
up
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
beef + up + object