beef up

beef  (bf)

n. pl. beeves (bvz) or beef

1.

a. A full-grown steer, bull, ox, or cow, especially one intended for use as meat.

b. The flesh of a slaughtered full-grown steer, bull, ox, or cow.

2. Informal Human muscle; brawn.

3. pl. beefs Slang A complaint.

intr.v. beefed, beef·ing, beefs Slang

To complain.

Phrasal Verb:

beef up Informal

To make or become greater or stronger: beef up the defense budget.

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[Middle English, from Old French buef, from Latin bs, bov-; see g^wou- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: That beef comes from cows is known to most, but the close relationship between the words beef and cow is hardly household knowledge. Cow comes via Middle English from Old English c, which is descended from the Indo-European root *g^wou-, also meaning "cow." This root has descendants in most of the branches of the Indo-European language family. Among those descendants is the Latin word bs, "cow," whose stem form, bov-, eventually became the Old French word buef, also meaning "cow." The French nobles who ruled England after the Norman Conquest of course used French words to refer to the meats they were served, so the animal called c by the Anglo-Saxon peasants was called buef by the French nobles when it was brought to them cooked at dinner. Thus arose the distinction between the words for animals and their meat that is also found in the English word-pairs swine/pork, sheep/mutton, and deer/venison. What is interesting about cow/beef is that we are in fact dealing with one and the same word, etymologically speaking.

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beef up

Verb

Informal to strengthen

Thesaurus

Verb

1.

beef up - make strong or stronger; "This exercise will strengthen your upper body"; "strengthen the relations between the two countries" fortify, strengthen alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" vitalise, vitalize - make more lively or vigorous; "The treatment at the spa vitalized the old man" ruggedise, ruggedize - produce in a version designed to withstand rough usage; "Detroit ruggedized the family car" substantiate - solidify, firm, or strengthen; "The president's trip will substantiate good relations with the former enemy country" restrengthen - make strong again brace up, undergird - make secure underneath; "undergird the ship" confirm - make more firm; "Confirm thy soul in self-control!" reenforce, reinforce - make stronger; "he reinforced the concrete" buttress - make stronger or defensible; "buttress your thesis" stabilise, stabilize, steady, brace - support or hold steady and make steadfast, with or as if with a brace; "brace your elbows while working on the potter's wheel" batten - secure with battens; "batten down a ship's hatches" batten, batten down, secure - furnish with battens; "batten ships"