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

Keep scrolling for more

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

Bistro classics are here as well, like simple steak frites and beef tartare. — Carisha Swanson, House Beautiful, "5 Things You Must Do In Kentucky," 3 May 2019 During the show, there were several moments between Kelly and former American Idol judge Paula Abdul that had people convinced there was beef between the two. — Megan Stein, Country Living, "Wait, Why Did Kelly Clarkson Throw Shade at Paula Abdul During the Billboard Music Awards?," 2 May 2019 A year later the company added fresh-beef patties for its signature and quarter-pounder burgers. — Micah Maidenberg, WSJ, "McDonald’s Drops Signature-Crafted Burgers," 18 Apr. 2019 The celeb world is no stranger to infamous feuds — there's now a TV show dedicated to them — but some of these beefs have gone on for-ev-er. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "8 Celeb Feuds that Will Never, Ever Go Away," 6 Mar. 2019 For an alt-steak, try Madera: In LIC, an alt-steak is basically any slab of beef eaten somewhere other than uber-popular M. Wells Steakhouse or Dinette. — Ali Francis, Vogue, "7 Long Island City Restaurants You Should Try Before, Well, Amazon," 20 Nov. 2018 Spoon polenta onto plates and top with beef-and-vegetable mixture. — Tiffani Thiessen, Good Housekeeping, "Wild Mushroom and Beef Stroganoff," 9 Oct. 2018 Just last week Cargill Meat Solutions recalled more than 25,000 pounds of raw ground beef due to E. coli fears. — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, "More Than 6.5 Million Pounds of Raw Beef Recalled for Possible Salmonella Contamination," 4 Oct. 2018 Anyway, don’t panic: The regular — skinnier — all-beef hot dog will remain on the menu for $1.50. — Maura Judkis, Philly.com, "Costco is taking Polish hot dogs off its food-court menu. People are angry," 10 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Over that time, the county beefed up its code enforcement by increasing that department’s annual budget by $200,000 and reducing the steps needed to file an abatement action in Superior Court. — The Yakima Herald-republic, The Seattle Times, "Uprooting cannabis: Officials stepping up enforcement of ban on recreational marijuana businesses," 13 Apr. 2019 The principal of one of New York City’s top public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School, beefed up supervision of boys’ bathrooms this week after finding racist and anti-Semitic imagery inside them, emails show. — Leslie Brody, WSJ, "Racist and Anti-Semitic Imagery Scrawled in Elite New York City School’s Bathrooms," 31 Jan. 2019 Google is beefing up its ART runtime to help apps start faster and consume less memory—and developers don’t even have to change their apps to benefit. — Michael Simon, PCWorld, "7 tweaks and changes in Android Q that will make your phone better than it is now," 13 Mar. 2019 The agency has been beefing up its response to fare evasion and has installed 4,000 surveillance cameras, including on every train, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said. — Fox News, "Family mourns woman killed in California subway stabbing," 3 Aug. 2018 Many of these companies also are working on beefing up their cybersecurity, protecting themselves from potential threats. — Adam Janofsky, WSJ, "One Year After NotPetya Cyberattack, Firms Wrestle With Recovery Costs," 27 June 2018 With Allo dead, the team moved over to Android Messages to focus on beefing up the app with some of the better Allo features, like this Web interface. — Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, "Google launches a Web client for Android’s SMS app," 19 June 2018 Illinois is in line to receive $13 million from the federal government to help beef up election security, but officials on Tuesday raised questions about whether the money will make it to the counties that need it in time for the November election. — Chicago Tribune Staff, chicagotribune.com, "Morning Spin: Joining census lawsuit is Emanuel's latest legal move against Trump administration," 4 Apr. 2018 The recommendations also include beefing up pretrial services, such as supervision and mental-health treatment, and making them available to defendants throughout the county. — Peter Krouse, cleveland.com, "ACLU of Ohio urges prompt adoption of bail reform recommendations," 16 Mar. 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.