beef
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /bif/
ipa: /biːf/
rhymes: -iːf
Forms: form: beef
form: beefs
form: beeves
Etymology: PIE word
 *gʷṓws
From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bōs (“ox”), from Proto-Italic *gʷōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws. Doublet of cow.
Beef in the sense of “a grudge, argument” was originally an American slang expression:
* attested as a verb “to complain” in 1888: “He'll beef an' kick like a steer an' let on he won't never wear 'em.”— New York World, 13 May;
* attested as a noun “complaint, protest, grievance, sim.” in 1899: “He made a Horrible Beef because he couldn't get Loaf Sugar for his Coffee.”—Fables in Slang (1900) by George Ade, page 80.
As to the possible origin of this American usage, it has been suggested that it can be traced back to a British expression for “alarm”, first recorded in 1725: "BEEF 'to alarm, as To cry beef upon us; they have discover'd us, and are in Pursuit of us". The term "beef" in this context would be a Cockney rhyming slang of thief. However, the continuous use of a similar expression, including its assumed semantic shift to 'complaint' in the United States from the 1880s onwards, needs further clarification.
Senses: examples: text: I love eating beef.
text: He was cooking beef for lunch.
text: But the cars & trucks held cartons of roast chickens, slabs of cheeses, loaves of bread, racks of hotdogs, case upon case of soft drinks, cases of bottled sparkling water, pies, cakes, roast beefs & baked hams.
ref: 2008, Red Jordan Arobateau, Leader of the Pack, page 136:
synonyms: cowflesh
oxflesh
glosses: The meat from cattle or other bovines.
examples: text: lean finely textured beef
text: boneless lean beef trimmings
text: McDonald’s has been vocal about adding more chicken to its menu, which is generally cheaper than beef. CEO Chris Kempczinski said in its most recent earnings call that it’s focused on adding “growth drivers like chicken” in an attempt to reverse slumping sales. Chicken is now on par with beef sales at its restaurants, he added.
ref: 2024 October 3, Jordan Valinsky, “McDonald’s is finally selling the Chicken Big Mac in the US”, in CNN:
synonyms: cowflesh
oxflesh
glosses: The meat from cattle or other bovines.
The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).
qualifier: on product packaging
raw_tags: in the meat industry
examples: text: Put some beef into it! We've got to get the car over the bump.
text: We've got to get some beef into the enforcement provisions of that law.
synonyms: cowflesh
oxflesh
glosses: The meat from cattle or other bovines.
Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.
examples: text: The beef of his paper was a long rant about government.
synonyms: cowflesh
oxflesh
meat
glosses: The meat from cattle or other bovines.
Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.
examples: text: However, there were millions of head of beef roaming the plains of Texas.
ref: 2010 October 21, “Who's the real McCoy? Abilene's Joseph in 8 Wonders contest”, in Abilene Recorder Chronicle:
glosses: Bovine animals.
examples: text: Do you want to raise beeves?
text: Howbeit, that country bringeth forth certain kinds of goodly great wild bœufes: to wit, the Biſontes, mained with a collar, like Lions: and the Vri, a mightie ſtrong beaſt, and a ſwift: which the ignorant people call Buffles, whereas indeed the Buffle is bred in Affrica, and carieth ſome reſemblance of a calfe rather, or a ſtag.
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Of Scythian beasts, and those that are bred in the North parts.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, pages 199–200:
text: As when two lions in the ſtill dark night / An herd of beeves ſcatter or num'rous flock / Suddenly, in the abſence of the guard, / So fled the heartleſs Greeks, […]
ref: 1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book XV.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 394, lines 398–401:
text: 263. If he [one to whom a beef or sheep is loaned] ruins the beef or sheep that was loaned him, he is to return to the owner a beef for a beef and a sheep for a sheep.
ref: 1903 March, Henry Mason Baum, Frederick Bennett Wright, George Frederick Wright, Records of the Past, volume II, part III, page 87, translating the laws of Hammurabi
text: Cutting out a Beef for branding
ref: 1920–1930, Photo in the North Dakota State Museum
text: I remember I killed a beef one time by myself.
ref: 2012, Bart Reilly, quotee, “Beef”, in Ontario Dialects Project, Toronto: University of Toronto, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2022:
qualifier: plural beeves
glosses: A bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.
examples: text: He's got beef over what you said.
text: He's got a beef with everyone in the room.
text: Remember what happened last fall? That's his beef with me.
text: All I got is beef with those that violate me / I shall annihilate thee
ref: 1997, “Going Back to Cali”, in Life After Death, performed by The Notorious B.I.G.:
qualifier: plural beefs
glosses: A grudge; dislike (of something or someone); lack of faith or trust (in something or someone); a reason for a dislike or grudge. (often + with)
examples: text: Clays, shales, sands, red and green marls, and alum shale, with occasional layers of "beef" (fibrous carbonate of lime) […] Chief "Beef" Beds, Dark (alum) shales with "beef" and selenite, beds of limestone, and layers of perished shells. Cyrena and Cyrides.
Corbula Beds. Layers of shelly limestone, shale, alum shale, and marl, with "beef" and selenite.
ref: 1895, Geological Survey of Great Britain, The Jurassic Rocks of Britain: Pub. by Order of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, page 243:
text: Medium-grey paper shales with beef.
ref: 1993, Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Proceedings - Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, volumes 114-115, page 190:
text: […] beds of limestone and thin layers of 'beef' (fibrous calcite)[…]
ref: 2007 May 10, Robin McInnes, Jenny Jakeways, Helen Fairbank, Emma Mathie, Landslides and Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions: Proceedings of the International Conference on Landslides and Climate Change, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, UK, 21-24 May 2007, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 421:
qualifier: Dorset
glosses: Fibrous calcite or limestone, especially when occurring in a jagged layer between shales in Dorset.
Derived terms: Albany beef
baby beef
baron of beef
beefalo
beefaroni
beef bayonet
beef bourguignon
beef-brained
beefburger
beefcake
beef chit
beef curtains
Beefeater
beefeater
beefer
beef flaps
beefhead
beefheaded
beefheart
beef house
beefhouse
beef-house
beef injection
beefish
beef jerky
beefless
beeflike
beef mami
Beefmaster
beef measles
beef olive
beef on the hoof
beef on weck
beef plate
beef rib
beefsteak
beef stew
beef tea
beef tomato
beef to the hoof
beef trust
beef Wellington
beef-witted
beefy
big as bull-beef
boneless lean beef trimmings
bully beef
carabeef
chipped beef
corned beef
cry beef
grass beef
ground beef
ham and beef shop
hot beef injection
hot-beef injection
hung beef
I don't eat beef
Italian beef
kippered beef
Kobe beef
lean finely textured beef
mess beef
Mongolian beef
neckbeef
park the beef bus in tuna town
pit beef
reef and beef
roast beef
roast beef curtains
roast-beef plant
round of beef
salt beef
smoked beef
squash the beef
ugly as bull-beef
what's the beef
where's the beef
Related terms: bovine
beefwood