beef

American  

[beef] / bif /

noun

beeves, plural beefs plural

1. the flesh of a cow, steer, or bull raised and killed for its meat.

2. an adult cow, steer, or bull raised for its meat.

3. Informal.

   1. brawn; muscular strength.

   2. strength; power.

   3. weight, as of a person.

   4. human flesh.

4. Slang.

   1. a complaint.

   2. an argument or dispute.

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verb (used without object)

beefs, present (3rd person singular) beefed, past participle, past beefing present participle

1. Slang. to complain; grumble.

verb phrase

1. beef up

   1. to add strength, numbers, force, etc., to; strengthen.

      During the riots, the nighttime patrol force was beefed up with volunteers.

   2. to increase or add to.

      to beef up our fringe benefits.

beef British  

/ biːf /

noun

1. the flesh of various bovine animals, esp the cow, when killed for eating

2. an adult ox, bull, cow, etc, reared for its meat

3. informal human flesh, esp when muscular

4. a complaint

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verb

1. slang (intr) to complain, esp repeatedly

   he was beefing about his tax

2. informal to strengthen; reinforce

beef Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing beef

• where's the beef

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• beefless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• beefs
  plural
• beeves
  plural

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have beefed
  perfect
• has beefed
  perfect 3rd person singular
• is beefing
  progressive 3rd person singular
• are beefing
  progressive
• beefing
  participle
• have been beefing
  perfect progressive
• am beefing
  progressive 1st person singular
• has been beefing
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• beefs
  singular 3rd person

Past

• had beefed
  perfect
• were beefing
  progressive plural
• was beefing
  progressive singular
• beefed
  participle
• had been beefing
  perfect progressive
• beefed
  simple

Future

• will beef
  simple
• will have beefed
  perfect
• will have been beefing
  perfect progressive
• will be beefing
  progressive

Etymology

Origin of beef

First recorded in 1250–1300; 1885–90 beef for def. 5; Middle English, from Anglo-French beof, Old French boef, from Latin bov- (stem of bōs ) “ox, cow”; akin to cow ¹

Explanation

Beef is meat from a cow. It's also a word for a complaint. If you have a beef with someone, you’re not sharing a steak, you have a gripe. Just don’t beef to a cow; her problems are worse. Beef is a type of meat from cattle. If you've ever had a hamburger, you've had beef. The word beef comes from the Old French word buef, which became the word for basically, cow meat. Beef is to cow as pork is to pig or mutton is to sheep. On the other hand, if you have a beef with someone, you have a complaint. Beefing is expressing such feelings.

Example Sentences

Likewise, JBS’s North American beef business posted a negative earnings margin of 4.6% in the latest quarter.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

The surf and turf variety includes Angus beef, chorizo, lobster and scallops.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026

Talbot says he’s confident that the proactive measures on behalf of the federal government will mitigate the screwworm’s reach and therefore not impact the beef supply locally or nationally.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

The threat to humans is low, but cattle ranchers fear an outbreak could have a large impact on beef markets.

From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026

We ate hot beef sausages served on split buns and slathered with whole-grain mustard, followed by deep-fried knishes stuffed with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Related Words

• meat