Definition of "beef"

beef

/bif/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural beef or beefs or beeves
1. (uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull, or other bovine.
  1. (in the meat industry, on product packaging) The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).
  2. (by extension, slang, uncountable) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.
  3. (figurative, slang, uncountable) Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.
2. (uncountable) Bovine animals.
  Quotations
  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
3. (now chiefly Canada, US, countable, now uncommon, plural beeves) A bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.
  Quotations
  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.
  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, pages 199–200
  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, […]
  1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Iliad.] Book XV.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 394, lines 398–401
  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.
  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
  Cutting out a Beef for branding
  1920–1930, Photo in the North Dakota State Museum
  I remember I killed a beef one time by myself.
  2012, Bart Reilly, quotee, “Beef”, in Ontario Dialects Project‎, Toronto: University of Toronto, retrieved July 5, 2022
4. (slang, uncountable or countable, plural beefs) 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)
  Quotations
  All I got is beef with those that violate me / I shall annihilate thee
  1997, “Going Back to Cali”, in Life After Death, performed by The Notorious B.I.G.
5. (Dorset) Fibrous calcite or limestone, especially when occurring in a jagged layer between shales in Dorset.
  Quotations
  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
  Medium-grey paper shales with beef.
  1993, Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Proceedings - Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, volumes 114-115, page 190
  […] beds of limestone and thin layers of 'beef' (fibrous calcite) […]
  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, page 421
verb
third-person singular simple present beefs, present participle beefing, simple past and past participle beefed
1. (intransitive, slang) To complain.
  Quotations
  “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
  "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, page 131
2. (transitive, slang) To add weight or strength to.
  Quotations
  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
3. (intransitive, slang) To fart; break wind.
4. (intransitive, chiefly Yorkshire) To cry.
5. (transitive, slang) To fail or mess up.
6. (chiefly African-American Vernacular, MLE, MTE, intransitive, slang) To feud or hold a grudge against.
adjective
not comparable
1. Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.
2. Producing or known for raising lots of beef.
3. Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.
4. (slang) Beefy; powerful; robust.

Definition of "beef"

beef

noun

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verb

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adjective