beefeater

beefeater noun: an African bird of the genus Buphagus, which feeds on the larvae of botflies hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, etc. Also the alternative letter-case form of Beefeater.

Image: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

beefeater (plural beefeaters)

An African bird of the genus Buphagus, which feeds on the larvae of botflies hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, etc.
(obsolete) One who eats beef; a large, plump person; a well-fed servant.
- 1676 (Licensed). William Wycherley, The Plain Dealer (play); reprinted in: 1981. Holland, Peter (ed.), The Plays of William Wycherley, London: Cambridge University Press, Plays by Renaissance and Restoration Dramatiats series. I.i.342-351, p. 366.
  [H]ere you see a bishop bowing low to a gaudy...
(historical) A kind of hat worn by women resembling the headwear of a Beefeater (Yeoman Warder).

Noun (2) capitalized: Beefeater

Beefeater (plural Beefeaters)

(UK, informal) A Yeoman Warder

Also used as

beefeater is also the alternative letter-case form of Beefeater.

Forms of beefeater

plural	beefeaters
plural	Beefeaters

Origin of beefeater

From beef + eater.

Questions about beefeater

What does beefeater mean?: Beefeater means an African bird of the genus Buphagus, which feeds on the larvae of botflies hatched under the skin of oxen, antelopes, etc.
What part of speech is beefeater?: Beefeater is a noun.
What is the plural of beefeater?: The plural of beefeater is beefeaters.

Words near beefeater in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: beefeater (page history and authors); Beefeater (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: Beefeater (en-uk).ogg.

Cite this entry: “beefeater.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/beefeater. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.