Definition: Beef

From New World Encyclopedia

Etymology

From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bōs (“ox”), from Proto-Italic *gʷōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws. Doublet of cow.

Noun

  1. (uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull or other bovine.
    I hate eating beef.
  2. (countable) Would be "a side of beef". A chunk, cut or piece not being the whole piece, cf ham.
  3. (archaic) A generic term for a cow or bull.
    Do you want to raise beeves?
  4. (countable) a complaint or disagreement
    He has a beef with anyone who tells him otherwise.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors copied and adjusted this Wiktionary entry in accordance with NWE standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit for this article is due to both New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions at Wiktionary is accessible to researchers here: