HOW TO PRONOUNCE
beef
/bif/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does beef mean?
noun
- The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.
- The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).
- (slang) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.
More meanings (17)
noun
- (figuratively, slang) Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.
- Bovine animals.
- A bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.
- (slang) 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)
- (slang) A criminal charge.
- Fibrous calcite or limestone, especially when occurring in a jagged layer between shales in Dorset.
verb
- (slang) To complain.
- (slang) To add weight or strength to.
- (slang) To fart; break wind.
- To cry.
- (slang) To fail or mess up.
- (slang) To feud or hold a grudge against.
- (slang) To sing or speak loudly; to cry out.
adjective
- Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.
- Producing or known for raising lots of beef.
- Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.
- (slang) Beefy; powerful; robust.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/bif/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
The guard lighted the lamps in the carriage, and Mrs. Medlock cheered up very much over her tea and chicken and beef.
He was good-looking in the sense that he had always had a sufficiency of beef to eat and fresh air to breathe.
More book examples (3)
Many a kid of beef have I seen rolling in the scuppers, and the bearer lying at his length on the decks.
A writer in "Eraser's Magazine" speaks very much to the purpose when he says, "Give us intellectual beef rather than intellectual veal."
Fish, eggs, and fowl may be eaten, also a moderate amount of lean meat in the form of beef, lamb, and mutton.