beef
/biːf/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/bɪjf/
beef noun: the meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.
Noun
beef (countable and uncountable, plural beef or beefs or beeves)
- The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.
- I love eating beef.
- He was cooking beef for lunch.
- The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).
- lean finely textured beef
- boneless lean beef trimmings
- Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.
- Put some beef into it! We've got to get the car over the bump.
- We've got to get some beef into the enforcement provisions of that law.
- Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.
- The beef of his paper was a long rant about government.
- Bovine animals.
- However, there were millions of head of beef roaming the plains of Texas.2010 October 21, “Who's the real McCoy? Abilene's Joseph in 8 Wonders contest”, in Abilene Recorder Chronicle
- A bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.
- Do you want to raise beeves?
- 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...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....
- 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)
- He's got beef over what you said.
- He's got a beef with everyone in the room.
- A criminal charge.
- 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.1986 February 15, Ed Mead, “untitled”, in Gay Commmunity News, volume 7, number 29, page 8
- 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.1986 February 15, Ed Mead, “untitled”, in Gay Commmunity News, volume 7, number 29, page 9
- Fibrous calcite or limestone, especially when occurring in a jagged layer between shales in Dorset.
- 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.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
Verb
beef (third-person singular simple present beefs, present participle beefing, simple past and past participle beefed)
- To complain.
- “Don't you like the Red Room?” “The Red Room!” I gathered from his manner that he had not come to beef about his sleeping accommodation.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
- "Who's Precious?" she beefed when she saw the big tattoo running down my inner arm.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 131
- To add weight or strength to.
- First off, the axle housing was beefed by welding areas where extreme loading is evident (black marked areas).1969, Hot Rod, volume 22, page 59
- Synonyms:
- beef up
- To fart; break wind.
- Ugh, who just beefed in here?
- To cry.
- David was beefing last night after Ruth told him off.
- To fail or mess up.
- I beefed my presentation hard yesterday.
- To feud or hold a grudge against.
- Those two are beefing right now — best you stay out of it.
- To sing or speak loudly; to cry out.
Adjective
beef (not comparable)
- Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.
- We bought three beef calves this morning.
- Producing or known for raising lots of beef.
- beef farms
- beef country
- Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.
- beef stew
- Beefy; powerful; robust.
- Wow, your audio setup is beef!
beef meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
beef in Hindi
- meat
- गोमांस gomāns, गोश्त gośt
beef in Tamil
- மாட்டுக் கறி, மாட்டிறைச்சி, புகார்
beef in Marathi
- meat
- गोमांस gomāusa
beef in Urdu
- meat
- گوشت
More languagesFewer languages
- beef in Bengali
- গোমাংস gomaṅsô
- beef in Telugu
- గోమాంసము gōmāṁsamu
- beef in Malayalam
- മാട്ടിറച്ചി māṭṭiṟacci, കോനം kōnaṁ
- beef in Kannada
- ಗೋಮಾಂಸ, ದನದ ಮಾಂಸ
- beef in Gujarati
- ગોમાંસ gomā̃s
- beef in Sanskrit
- गोमांस gomāṃsa
- beef in Sinhala
- හරක් මස් harak mas
- beef in Nepali
- बीउ bīu
- beef in Tagalog
- karneng baka
- beef in Arabic
- لَحْم بَقَر laḥm baqar
- beef in Malay
- daging lembu, daging
- beef in Indonesian
- daging sapi
- beef in Persian
- گوشت گاو gušt-e gâv
- beef in Thai
- เนื้อวัว nʉ́ʉa-wuua, เนื้อ nʉ́ʉa
- beef in Vietnamese
- thịt bò
- beef in Myanmar
- အမဲသား a.mai:sa:
- Sindhi
- ٻوڙا ḇoṛā
Examples of beef in a sentence
- Remember what happened last fall? That's his beef with me.
- McDonald’s has been vocal about adding more chicken to its menu, which is generally cheaper than beef.2024 October 3, Jordan Valinsky, “McDonald’s is finally selling the Chicken Big Mac in the US”, in CNN Business, archived from the original...
- 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.1903 March, Henry Mason Baum, Frederick Bennett Wright, George Frederick Wright, Records of the Past, volume II, part III, page 87...
- I remember I killed a beef one time by myself.2012, Bart Reilly, quotee, “Beef”, in Ontario Dialects Project, Toronto: University of Toronto, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2022:
- All I got is beef with those that violate me / I shall annihilate thee1997, “Going Back to Cali”, in Life After Death, performed by The Notorious B.I.G.:
Synonyms of beef
Forms of beef
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | beef |
| plural | beefs |
| plural | beeves |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | beefs |
| present participle | beefing |
| past participle | beefed |
| past | beefed |
Origin of beef
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.
Words formed from beef
- Albany beef
- baby beef
- baron of beef
- beefalo
- beefaroni
- beef bayonet
- beef bourguignon
- beef-brained
- beefburger
- beefcake
- beef chit
- beef curtains
- 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 mince
- beef olive
- beef on the hoof
- beef on weck
- beef plate
- beef rib
- beefsteak
- beef stew
- beef tapeworm
- 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
- chopped 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
Phrases with beef
- beef up
- beef out
- bum beef
- pit beef
- beef ribs
- beef teas
- corn beef
- Kobe beef
- mess beef
- salt beef
- beef chits
- beef stews
43 more phrasesFewer phrases
- cried beef
- cries beef
- roast beef
- beef houses
- Beef Island
- beef olives
- beef trusts
- crying beef
- minced beef
- smoked beef
- beef jerkies
- Italian beef
- beef bayonets
- beef on wecks
- beef salpicao
- beef tomatoes
- kippered beef
- reef 'n' beef
- reef and beef
- round of beef
- barons of beef
- beef Stroganov
- Mongolian beef
- rounds of beef
- beef injections
- beef stroganoff
- squash the beef
- what's the beef
- beef Wellingtons
- where's the beef
- beef bourguignons
- squashed the beef
- squashes the beef
- ham and beef shops
- squashing the beef
- hot beef injections
- roast beef curtains
- lean finely textured beef
- lean, finely textured beef
- park the beef bus in tuna town
- parks the beef bus in tuna town
- parked the beef bus in tuna town
- parking the beef bus in tuna town
Words that rhyme with beef
Questions about beef
- What does beef mean?
- Beef means the meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.
- What is beef in Hindi?
- Beef in Hindi is गोमांस (gomāns), गोश्त (gośt). See Beef meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use beef in a sentence?
- Remember what happened last fall? That's his beef with me.
- What part of speech is beef?
- Beef can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce beef?
- Beef is pronounced /biːf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of beef?
- The plural of beef is beef.
Words near beef in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: beef (page history and authors); beef (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); গোমাংস (Bengali) (page history and authors); గోమాంసము (Telugu) (page history and authors); കോനം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); beef (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-beef.ogg.
Cite this entry: “beef.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/beef. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.