• (GA) IPA: /bif/
• (British) IPA: /biːf/

beef

1. (uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull or other bovine.

   I love eating beef.

   1. (in the meat industry, on product packaging) The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).

      lean finely textured beef

      boneless lean beef trimmings

   2. (uncountable) Bovine animals.
   3. (archaic, countable, plural: beeves) A single bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.

      Do you want to raise beeves?

   4. (by extension, slang, uncountable) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.

      Put some beef into it! We've got to get the car over the bump.

      We've got to get some beef into the enforcement provisions of that law.

   5. (figurative, slang, uncountable) Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.

      The beef of his paper was a long rant about government.

2. (slang, countable or uncountable, plural: beefs) A grudge; dislike (of something or someone); lack of faith or trust (in something or someone); a reason for a dislike or grudge. (often + with)

   He's got a beef with everyone in the room.

   He's got beef over what you said.

   Remember what happened last fall? That's his beef with me.

• (meat of a cow) cowflesh
• (meat of an ox) oxflesh

• bovine

• French: bœuf
• German: Rindfleisch, Ochsenfleisch
• Italian: manzo, carne bovina
• Portuguese: bife, carne bovina
• Russian: говя́дина
• Spanish: carne de res carne de vaca

• German: Groll, heftige Verärgerung, Rochus, Widerwillen, Beschwerde

beef (beefs, present participle beefing; past and past participle beefed)

1. (intransitive) To complain.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855 ↗:

     “Don't you like the Red Room?” “The Red Room!” I gathered from his manner that he had not come to beef about his sleeping accommodation.

2. (transitive) To add weight or strength to; to beef up.
   • 1969, Hot Rod (volume 22, page 59)

     First off, the axle housing was beefed by welding areas where extreme loading is evident (black marked areas).

3. (intransitive, slang) To fart; break wind.

   Ugh, who just beefed in here?

4. (AAVE, intransitive, slang) To feud or hold a grudge against.

   Those two are beefing right now - best you stay out of it for now.

5. (intransitive, chiefly, Yorkshire) To cry

   David was beefing last night after Ruth told him off

6. (transitive, slang) To fail or mess up.

   I beefed my presentation hard yesterday.

beef (not comparable)

1. Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.

   We bought three beef calves this morning.

2. Producing or known for raising lots of beef.

   beef farms

   beef country

3. Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.

   beef stew

• beefy

• Russian: говя́жий