BEEF

beef, beef cattle

(noun) cattle that are reared for their meat

gripe, kick, beef, bitch, squawk

(noun) informal terms for objecting; “I have a gripe about the service here”

beef, boeuf

(noun) meat from an adult domestic bovine

gripe, bitch, grouse, crab, beef, squawk, bellyache, holler

(verb) complain; “What was he hollering about?”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

beef (countable and uncountable, plural beef or beefs or beeves)

(uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull, or other bovine.

(in the meat industry, on product packaging) The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).

(uncountable) Bovine animals.

(archaic, countable, plural: beeves) A single bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.

(by extension, slang, uncountable) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.

(figurative, slang, uncountable) Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.

(slang, countable or uncountable, 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)

Synonyms

• (meat of a cow): cowflesh

• (meat of an ox): oxflesh

Hyponyms

• (meat of a cow): veal

Verb

beef (third-person singular simple present beefs, present participle beefing, simple past and past participle beefed)

(intransitive) To complain.

(transitive) To add weight or strength to; to beef up.

(intransitive, slang) To fart; break wind.

(African-American Vernacular, intransitive, slang) To feud or hold a grudge against.

(intransitive, chiefly, Yorkshire) To cry

(transitive, slang) To fail or mess up.

Adjective

beef (not comparable)

Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.

Producing or known for raising lots of beef.

Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.

Anagrams

• Feeb, feeb

Source: Wiktionary


Beef, n. Etym: [OE. boef, befe, beef, OF. boef, buef, F. b, fr. L. bos, bovis, ox; akin to Gr. , Skr. g cow, and E. cow. See 2d Cow.]

1. An animal of the genus Bos, especially the common species, B. taurus, including the bull, cow, and ox, in their full grown state; esp., an ox or cow fattened for food.

Note: [In this, which is the original sense, the word has a plural, beeves (.] A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine. Milton.

2. The flesh of an ox, or cow, or of any adult bovine animal, when slaughtered for food.

Note: [In this sense, the word has no plural.] "Great meals of beef." Shak.

3. Applied colloquially to human flesh.

Beef, a.

Definition: Of, pertaining to, or resembling, beef. Beef tea, essence of beef, or strong beef broth.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

2 April 2025

COVERT

(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.

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