Beat-up means old, dented and scarred from long use. Still going, and looking every mile of it.
It is chiefly American and describes vehicles and equipment above all, so a beat-up old estate car is one nobody worries about parking. The tone is affectionate rather than critical, since a beat-up guitar or a beat-up suitcase has earned its marks. British English says battered for the same idea. The phrasal verb beat up means to attack somebody physically and is not affectionate at all.
1adjectivebeat-upWorn and damaged from long use.
“He turned up in a beat-up van full of tools.”
Also accepted in games: battered
Deverbal from beat up.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 35 of A Man Called Ove.
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