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beat up

verb, adj, noun — 19 senses

beat up

verbalso spelled beat-up
11 senses
  1. 1To give a severe beating to; to assault violently with…
  2. 2To wake up earlier than.
  3. 3To attack suddenly; to alarm.
  4. 4To cause, by some other means, injuries comparable to…
  5. 5To feel badly guilty and accuse (oneself) over…
  6. 6To make (someone) feel badly guilty and accuse (them)…
  7. 7To repeatedly bomb a military target or targets.
  8. 8To get something done (derived from the idea of beating…
  9. 9To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks…
  10. 10To disturb; to pay an untimely visit to.
  11. 11To go diligently about in order to get helpers or…
1

To give a severe beating to; to assault violently with repeated blows.

  • I got beaten up by thugs on my way home.
  • You don't beat people up, so that you can live in a society where nobody would beat you up.
1 more example
  • If anyone wondered why the liner went straight at the panzerschiff, Fegen's reasoning was clear. The 11-inch guns could hit him at long range, but the short-barrelled 6-inch on his own ship couldn't range out quite as far. So, to start beating up Admiral Scheer, he had to get closer.2022 December 3, Drachinifel, 5:25 from the start, in HMS Jervis Bay - Guide 312, archived from the original on 16 May 2023:
2

To wake up earlier than.

  • I wanted to beat you up this morning and make breakfast for you for once.
3

Obsolete To attack suddenly; to alarm.

  • At breach of wall, or hedge surprise, / She shared i' th' hazard, and the prize: / At beating quarters up, or forage, / Behaved herself with matchless courage1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:
  • On this occasion, the diligent prior o St. Andrews assembled 600 horse, with which he assailed the French, beat up their quarters, intercepted their provisions, and cut off their straggling parties.1770, John Belfour, A New History of Scotland, pages 137–138:
3 more examples
  • Our people are daily gaining Health Spirits and Discipline — the spade & pick axe throw'd aside — for the British Rebels to take up — they notwithstanding affect to hold us cheap and threaten to beat up our Quarters — if we don’t beat up theirs first which is in Contemplation, this in time.1777 June 7, Anthony Wayne, letter to Sharp Delany from the Camp at Mount Prospect 7th June 1777, in 1893, Charles Stillé, Major-General Anthony Wayne and the Pennsylvania Line in the Continental Army, page 6
  • "We know for certain that their army does not consist of more than three thousand men, including all sorts." Sir Henry Percy, on hearing this, was greatly rejoiced, and cried out, "To horse! to horse! for by the faith I owe my God, and to my lord and father, I will seek to recover my pennon, and to beat up their quarters this night."1839, Jean Froissart, chapter CXXVI, in Thomas Johnes, transl., Chronicles of England, France, Spain, and The adjoining Countries, page 367:
  • Pa Blanken tells me that the Japs beat up our camp a month ago and we have lost all our heavy gear and moved up into the hills - he does not know where. Hell! No casualties, however. [...] Our material losses were very serious. The Japs had found a rucksack containing all our money, our medicines, including all our vital quinine, a copy of our signals plan, and a number of maps. […] It seems probable that the Japs spotted our camp from the air. They certainly knew its exact position and came straight to it.1948, F. Spencer Chapman, The Jungle Is Neutral, published 2003, pages 272–275:
4

To cause, by some other means, injuries comparable to the result of being beaten up.

  • He [= a paraglider pilot] flew into a hill and beat himself up pretty badly.2008 October 29, on Real Rescues (a British TV program)
5

To feel badly guilty and accuse (oneself) over something. (Usually followed by over or about.)

  • Don’t beat yourself up over such a minor mistake.
6

To make (someone) feel badly guilty and accuse (them) over something.

  • It's getting louder and louder Every time I think about you, about you I'll be better off without you, without you I wish my heart would stop, wish my heart would stop Beating me up (whoa, oh, whoa) Beating me up (whoa, oh, whoa) Beating me up2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Dave Bassett, Brian West, “Beating Me Up”, in Fight Song, performed by Rachel Platten:
7

Government, Military, Politics, War WW2 air pilots' usage To repeatedly bomb a military target or targets.

8

To get something done (derived from the idea of beating for game).

9

Nautical, Transport To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.

10

Dated To disturb; to pay an untimely visit to.

11

Dated To go diligently about in order to get helpers or participants in an enterprise.

  • to beat up for recruits, or for volunteers
Synonyms
do over, rough up, work over, process
Derived terms
beat 'em up, beat-up
Related terms
beat to a pulp

beat up

adj
1

Slang Battered by time and usage; beaten up.

Synonyms
beat, beaten up, dilapidated

beat up

noun
1

A person who, or thing that, has been beaten up.

  • Well, two beat ups (the bullied kids) would split that cash fifty-fifty.2009, Thomas Cody Mullenaux, Numbskull, page 257:

› An act of beating up:

2

Government, Military, Politics, War UK, Slang A raid.

  • These hit-and-run LRDG attacks — “beat-ups,” the patrols were beginning to call them — continued, and added to the enemy's mounting difficulties.1987, John W. Gordon, The Other Desert War: British Special Forces in North Africa, 1940-1943, page 86:
3

A beating; a hazing.

  • We gave him wedgies and did mock beat-ups. We never hurt him or intended to hurt him, but he went along with our tough guy sort of image, and took it tongue in cheek and got it.2008, Josh Frank, Charlie Buckholtz, In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre, page 243:
  • Frequently on guest nights beat ups were held by the Third Term, and cadets of the First Term (and, sometimes, the Second Term) were singled out individually.2010, John Golley, Jet, page 14:
4

Australia, New Zealand, UK An artificially or disingenuously manufactured alarm or outcry, especially one agitated by or through the media.

  • To the people of CQ^([Central Queensland]) the Internet is nothing more than the subject of media beat ups about pornography and bomb making.1995 September, David Jones, “1000 Users on a 486”, in AUUG ′95 & Asia-Pacific World Wide Web ′95 Conference & Exhibition: Conference Proceedings, page 106:
  • Media beat-ups and xenophobia are nothing new to the Vietnamese people.2007, Pauline Nguyen, Luke Nguyen, Mark Jensen, Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart, page 189:
2 more examples
  • These debates can be difficult to navigate and are all too easily reduced to simplistic reflections of individual taste and vulnerable to journalistic beat-ups.2009, Ken Gelder, Paul Salzman, After The Celebration: Australian Fiction 1989-2007, page 95:
  • 2009, Newstalk ZB, Hydro project claims "a beat up" - Brownlee, Newstalk ZB.
5

Business, Forestry A tree planted later than others in a plantation.

  • The data include measurements from both the original tree plantings and subsequent beat-ups.2003, K. J. Foot, M. Hislop, S. McNeilly, “The effect of green composted waste on tree establishment on landfill”, in Heather M. Moore, Howard R. Fox, Scott Elliott, editors, Land Reclamation: Extending The Boundaries: Proceedings Of The 7th International Conference, Runcorn, UK 13-16 May 2003, page 216:
Synonyms
hazing

beat-up

adj

Etymology Deverbal from beat up.

1

Informal, Of an object Worn out by overuse; in a state of disrepair

beat-up

noun

Etymology Deverbal from beat up.

1

Australia, New Zealand An artificially or disingenuously manufactured outcry, usually in the media.

  • 2009, Natasha Robinson, 'James Packer book outrage a beat-up, says Paul Barry', The Australian, Business section “It has been suggested that this is a vicious book, a poisonous book, that it's a disgrace to have written it,” Mr Barry said at today's book launch. “That's a total beat-up."
  • 2009, Michael Cook, 'Is Britain’s stem cell crisis a beat-up?', BioEdge Few areas of science journalism are more susceptible to frothy beat-ups than stem cell research.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for beat up and beat-up.