Word: beef Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bovem (“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. Pronunciation: /biːf/, /bɪjf/, /bif/ 1. The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults. Labels: uncountable Example: I love eating beef. Example: He was cooking beef for lunch. 2. The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: lean finely textured beef Example: boneless lean beef trimmings 3. The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults. Labels: broadly, slang, uncountable Example: Put some beef into it! We've got to get the car over the bump. Example: We've got to get some beef into the enforcement provisions of that law. 4. The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults. Labels: figuratively, slang, uncountable Example: The beef of his paper was a long rant about government. 5. Bovine animals. Labels: uncountable Example: However, there were millions of head of beef roaming the plains of Texas. 6. A bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat. Labels: Canada, US, countable, uncommon Example: Do you want to raise beeves? Example: 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. 7. 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) Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: He's got beef over what you said. Example: He's got a beef with everyone in the room. 8. A criminal charge. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: I'm in prison for attempting to kill two police officers (a genuine bum beef) and am alleged to be a part of a group of mad bombers. Example: The man most recently murdered is said to have been a key defense witness in the trial of two other Indians facing hanging beefs for their alleged killing of a guard. 9. Fibrous calcite or limestone, especially when occurring in a jagged layer between shales in Dorset. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: Medium-grey paper shales with beef.