beefcake

[beef-keyk]

noun

Informal.

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

beefcake

/ ˈbiːfˌkeɪk /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of beefcake¹

1945–50; beef + cake, modeled on cheesecake

Example Sentences

Only Elordi, variously treated like beefcake and brooder, seems lost trying to square Julius’ early vulnerability with the final act’s hopeful romance.

From Los Angeles Times

From there, your personal security detail can ferry you around town, to any number of errands, book signings, book burnings or, presumably, wherever you’d like to bring a few armed beefcakes.

From Salon

But Albini never took easy money as an opportunity to coast: Listen to how carefully he gets the sound of fingers on guitar strings into this beefcake power ballad.

From Los Angeles Times

Pickpocketing Chekhov for dramatic capital is almost a rite of passage among playwrights, but only Christopher Durang invested the loot in beefcake.

From New York Times

The sort of magazine it envisions — essentially Ms., if it added beefcake centerfolds and became a newsstand blockbuster — didn’t exist.

From New York Times

Related Words

• attractive 
• handsome 
• well-built