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beefcake

American  
[beef-keyk] / ˈbifˌkeɪk /

noun

Informal.

  1. photographs of nearly nude young men in magazines or the like, posed to display their muscular bodies.

beefcake British  
/ ˈbiːfˌkeɪk /

noun

  1. slang men displayed for their muscular bodies, esp in photographs Compare cheesecake

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of beefcake

1945–50; beef + cake, modeled on cheesecake

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A much-smaller Hogan returned in 1993 to team with his friend Brutus Beefcake to take on Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster at WrestleMania in Las Vegas.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2025

After his career in the ring, he managed wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2018

Ford needed an intervention, Beefcake said, “I am going to be his angel of mercy!”

From BusinessWeek • Nov. 18, 2013

God's Favorite Beefcake served as the house band at the Moisture Festival, Seattle's annual spring extravaganza celebrating underground variety.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 4, 2012

The dead included Joseph Albanese, 52, a bass player who performed as Meshuguna Joe, and Andrew Keriakedes, 49, a singer known on stage as Schmootzi the Clod, both Beefcake regulars.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2012

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.