beef

noun

\ˈbēf

plural beefs\ˈbēfs

\ or beeves\ˈbēvz

Definition of beef

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : the flesh of an adult domestic bovine (such as a steer or cow) used as food

2a : an ox, cow, or bull in a full-grown or nearly full-grown state especially : a steer or cow fattened for food quality Texas beeves a herd of good beef

b : a dressed carcass of a beef animal

3 : muscular flesh : brawn

4 plural beefs : complaint

beef

verb

beefed; beefing; beefs

Definition of beef (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to increase or add substance, strength, or power to —usually used with up money to beef up its staff of professional economists— John Fischer

intransitive verb

: complain always beefing about something

Illustration of beef

Noun

beef 2b: A wholesale cuts: 1 shank, 2 round with rump and shank cut off, 3 rump, 4 sirloin, 5 short loin, 6 flank, 7 rib, 8 chuck, 9 plate, 10 brisket, 11 shank; B retail cuts: a heel pot roast, b round steak, c rump roast, d sirloin steak, e pinbone steak, f short ribs, g porterhouse, h T-bone, i club steak, j flank steak, k rib roast, l blade rib roast, m plate, n brisket, o crosscut shank, p arm pot roast, q boneless neck, r blade roast

In the meaning defined above

Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about beef

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Examples of beef in a Sentence

Noun

I'm not eating as much beef as I used to. My real beef is with the organization's president, not the group itself.

Verb

She's always beefing about something. he tends to stand around and beef for hours about any slight, real or imagined

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The James Beard Foundation has asked restaurants to include mushrooms into the ground beef in their burgers. — Lauren Delgado, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Local restaurants add a little something extra to burgers for contest," 11 June 2018 The small plates menu includes yukhoe (beef tartare), shrimp and kimchi mandu and spicy tteokbokki. — Anna Muckerman, baltimoresun.com, "Pop-up dinners coming to Rye in Fells Point next week," 13 July 2018 Blue corn tortillas commonly found in Oaxaca come alongside birria, a Jalisco stew with goat or beef. — Benjy Egel, sacbee, "Taqueria Maya owners open Mexican restaurant with a millennial twist in railyard," 12 July 2018 An ugly beef with the rapper Pusha-T bruised his ego and damaged his sterling public reputation. — Andy Hutchins, Time, "Scorpion Finds Drake Struggling to Keep It All Together," 29 June 2018 As long as a guy is consistent with his zone throughout a game, there should be no big beefs. — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty's Morning Line: Are Cincinnati Reds .500 team now? Ask me at All-Star break," 28 June 2018 Steak & White Cheddar Panini This hoagie roll filled with beef sirloin tip, white cheddar cheese, and horseradish sauce contains 940 calories, 48 grams of fat, 79 grams of carb with 5 as fiber, and 46 grams of protein. — Health.com, "The 4 Healthiest Menu Items at Panera Bread (Plus 3 Things to Avoid)," 13 July 2018 And one of the most popular combos, the all beef hot dog plus fountain soda, which Costco is stressing isn’t going anywhere? — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, "Costco's Food Court Is Getting Rid of the Polish Dog—It's Not Even the Most Unhealthy Thing on the Menu," 12 July 2018 Through the end of summer, visitors are invited to approach this bloated cousin of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro and snag one free all-beef hot dog per day. — Shoshana Wodinsky, The Verge, "We have some questions about this blobby yellow bus that dispenses free hot dogs," 11 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Storefront retailers are beefing up their online presence while pushing customers into physical stores with package pickup. — Ronald D. White, latimes.com, "Nike knows what Angelenos like to buy. Its new data-driven store will stock those products," 12 July 2018 Netflix’s reliance on documentaries to beef up its library of original content may have helped spur the genre to new relevance. — David Sims, The Atlantic, "What’s Driving Documentaries to Box-Office Success?," 11 July 2018 After that, the company began to beef up its digital portfolio to broaden its access to a younger audience. — Kevin Kelleher, Fortune, "Univision Explores Sale of Gizmodo, Deadspin, The Onion, and 10 Other Assets," 10 July 2018 All of these cinematic lands are also meant to beef up Disney’s efforts to give their competitors at the Universal Studios parks (home to the popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter sections) a run for their money. — Mekado Murphy, New York Times, "Walk Among Giants — Woody Included — at Disney World's New Toy Story Land," 28 June 2018 In 2009, when China began beefing up its foreign-language news media, Pew Research Centre asked people in 38 countries about their views of China. — The Economist, "China is spending billions on its foreign-language media," 14 June 2018 What Facebook is promising: CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to beef up safety and security by hiring thousands to moderate content and by training artificial intelligence. — Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, "Facebook is having trouble fighting hate speech," 15 May 2018 Some parents have been clamoring to beef up the school budget. — Don Stacom, Courant Community, "New Britain Voters Can Suggest Where To Spend, Where To Cut," 30 Apr. 2018 With the passage of an income tax hike in 2016, the city was able to beef up its budget for police. — Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com, "Cleveland homicide unit needs help and resources, according to study," 21 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'beef.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.