beef Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun cattle that are reared for their meat
    beef cattle.
  2. noun meat from an adult domestic bovine
    boeuf.
  3. noun informal terms for objecting
    squawk; gripe; kick; bitch.
    • I have a gripe about the service here
  4. verb complain
    squawk; bellyache; grouse; gripe; holler; bitch; crab.
    • What was he hollering about?

WordNet


Beef noun
Etymology
OE. boef, befe, beef, OF. boef, buef, F. bef, fr. L. bos, bovis, ox; akin to Gr. , Skr. g cow, and E. cow. See 2d Cow.
Definitions
  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. 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. In this sense, the word has no plural. "Great meals of beef." Shak.
  3. Applied colloquially to human flesh.
Beef adjective
Definitions
  1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, beef.

Webster 1913