# beef

Pronunciation: say "BEEF" US /bif/, UK /biːf/

## Noun

1. The meat of cattle, used as food; on product labels it may include edible parts other than muscle.
   - Simple: Meat from a cow.
   - _The restaurant buys its beef from a ranch outside town._
   - _Ground beef forms the base of most chili recipes._
4. A grudge against or standing complaint about someone or something; a reason for dislike or distrust. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A problem or angry feeling you have with someone.
   - _The two rappers have had a beef going since their first albums._
   - _Her main beef with the plan is the cost._
7. Muscle or physical bulk; more broadly, size, strength, or power. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Strong muscles, or the strength and power a person or thing has.
   - _The linebacker added twenty pounds of beef in the offseason._
   - _This amplifier has enough beef to fill a stadium._
6. Cattle raised for meat, as a group or as a single animal.
   - Simple: Cows raised for meat, or one of these animals.
   - _The ranch runs beef on two thousand acres of dry grassland._
   - _Drovers once moved beef along these roads to the city markets._
10. The essential or most substantial content of something, such as a document, argument, or project. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The most important part of something, like a plan or report.
   - _The executive summary is fine, but the beef of the proposal starts on page ten._
   - _Reviewers complained that the talk was all slides and no beef._

## Adjective

2. Consisting of or containing the meat of cattle as an ingredient.
   - Simple: Made with or containing meat from a cow.
   - _The diner's menu pairs beef enchiladas with rice and beans._
   - _He simmered the beef broth for six hours._
5. Relating to cattle raised for meat, as in 'beef herds' or 'beef country'.
   - Simple: Used to describe cows raised for meat, or places where many are raised.
   - _Most of the beef herds in this county graze on open rangeland._
   - _The vet checks each beef steer before it leaves the ranch._
11. Powerfully built or robust; impressively strong or capable. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Very big and strong, or very powerful.

## Verb

3. To add weight or strength to something; to make it more substantial or powerful. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To make something stronger, bigger, or heavier than it was.
   - _Engineers beefed up the bridge supports before reopening the span._
   - _The studio plans to beef up security around the set._
8. To complain, especially persistently or vocally. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To complain, especially in an annoyed, ongoing way.
   - _Commuters beef about the fare hikes every single year._
   - _He spent the whole meeting beefing about the new policy._
9. To feud with someone or hold a grudge against them. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To stay angry with someone and keep fighting with them.
   - _Those two crews still beef over territory neither of them controls anymore._
   - _The rappers have been beefing since their joint album fell apart._
12. To fail at something or make a mess of it; to botch an attempt. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To fail at something or do it very badly.
   - _The skater beefed the landing and slid into the boards._
   - _If you beef the demo, we lose the client._
13. To break wind; to fart. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To fart. To let gas out of your body.
   - _He swears the dog beefed, but the dog looked equally offended._
   - _People who beef in crowded waiting rooms rarely admit it._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To raise one's voice in song or speech, or to call out at high volume.
- (verb) To cry; to weep.
- (noun) Calcite or limestone with a fibrous structure, particularly where it forms jagged bands between layers of shale in Dorset.

## Origin

"Beef" came through Middle English from Anglo-Norman "beof" and Old French "buef" or "boef" ("ox"), from Latin "bōs" ("ox"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws; it is a doublet of "cow." In the sense of a grudge or argument, it began as American slang, attested as a verb "to complain" in 1888 and a noun "complaint" in 1899, possibly traceable to an earlier British expression for "alarm," though this link remains uncertain.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/beef (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).