Forms: 3–4 boef, beef, 4 bouf, 5 befe, byffe, beoff, buif, 5–6 beff, 6 beafe, biefe, beffe, 6–7 beefe, 7 (bœufe), bief, beife, 7– beef. Plural: beeves; also 5 beoffes, buefs, beuys, 5–7 beues, beves, 6 beafes, beffes, bevis, beoves, 6–7 beefes, bieves, beeffes, 2 (in U.S.) beefs. [a. OF. boef (= mod.F. bœuf):—L. bov-em, acc. of bos ox, cogn. with Gr. βοῦς, Skr. go-, Eng. COW.]
1. The flesh of an ox, bull, or cow, used as food. Often preceded by words indicating the exact part of the animal, e.g., sirloin, ribs of beef, etc. Sea-beef: beef pickled for use at sea.
a. 1300. K. Alis., 5248. To mete was greithed beef and motoun.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1849. Fair bouf wel sode.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 176. Bet than olde boef is tendre vel.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 27. Fresshe brothe of the befe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 28. Byffe, flesche [v.r. beff].
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe, II. i. (1541), 16 b. Biefe is better digested than a chykens legge.
1552. Huloet, Beafe, bubula.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 23. What say you to a peece of Beefe and Mustard?
1607. Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 34. More stale then sea-beefe.
1653. Walton, Angler, 191. Powdered Bief is a most excellent bait to catch an Eele.
1662. Pepys, Diary, 29 May. We had cakes, and powdered beef, and ale.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 269, ¶ 8. I have always a Piece of cold Beef and a Mince-Pye upon the Table.
1818. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., V./302. They dine … upon good roast-beef and port.
1875. Whyte-Melville, Katerfelto, xx. 228. ‘Waiter! what can we have for supper?’
‘Aitch-bone of beef, my lord,’ was the answer.
2. transf. a. Applied to other kinds of flesh or food. b. mod. colloq. = ‘Flesh’ (of men). Cf. BEEFY.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 233. Ling … is counted the beefe of the Sea.
1862. Cork Examiner, 28 March. Chelmsford stood higher in the leg, and showed less beef about him.
1863. Cornh. Mag., Feb. Life Man-of-War, 177. Useful at the heavy hauling of braces, &c.—where plenty of ‘beef’ is required.
1868. Lossing, Hudson, 145. The Sturgeon … are sold in such quantities in Albany, that they have been called, in derision, ‘Albany beef.’
3. An ox; any animal of the ox kind; esp. a fattened beast, or its carcase. a. Usually in pl. arch. or techn.
c. 1320. Seuyn Sag. (W.), 1095. Hit mote bothe drink and ete … Beues flesch, and drink the brotht.
1475. Bk. Noblesse, 68. Grete providence of vitaille of cornys, of larde, and beoffes.
1485. Caxton, Chas. Gt., 107. Grete oxen and buefs slayn.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxciii. 675. Mo than xx. thousande beastes, swyne, beufes, kene, and moutons.
1596. Shaks., Merch. Ven., I. iii. 168. As flesh of Muttons, Beefes, or Goates.
1611. Bible, Lev. xxii. 21. A free will offring in beeues or sheepe.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 170. Our Beves yield much Butter, Cheese … and Meat.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., II. VII. 323. One half in Money, and the other half in good Beefs.
1780. T. Jefferson, Corr., Wks. 1859, I. 252. To collect beeves in our southern counties.
1861. May, Const. Hist. (1863), I. iv. 192. The supply of beeves and grain for his household.
1884. in Glasgow Her., 5 Jan., 5/2. All the beefs that are ready for shipping.
b. The sing. has been occasional in this sense since 16th c.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 26. Whereas they pay a certeine price for a fat beefe.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 420. If either a bœufe or mutton be rubbed with salt.
1609. Bible (Douay), Deut. xiv. 5. The pygargue, the wilde beefe, the cameloparde.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. v. § 5. 164. Either to a Beef, or a Sheep, or a Wolf.
1775. Johnson, West. Isl., Wks. X. 456. When a beef was killed for the house.
1844. Mrs. Houston, Yacht Voy. Texas, II. 180. The cook went on shore and ‘shot a beef.’
fig. 1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. iii. 199. O, my sweet Beefe I must still be good Angell to thee.
4. Attrib. and in comb., as beef-boat, -bone, -cattle, -collops, -fat, -flick, -house, -market, -merchant, -net, -pot, -shop, -steer, -suet; beef-boiler, -eating, -grower, -making, -roaster; beef-faced adj.
1837. Marryat, Dog-fiend, xii. He jumped into the *beef boat to go on board of the cutter.
1611. Cotgr., Archimarmitonerastique … or Arch-frequenter of the Cloyster beefe-pot, or *beefe-boyler.
1758. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), 279. It seemed to be the Scale of a *Beef-Bone.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xix. Such bare beef-bones, such a shouldering at the buttery-hatch. Ibid., Guy M., xliv. A plate of *beef-collops.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist (1850), 68/1. I know a friend who has a *beef-faced boy.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., II. 233/1. The elain of *beef fat is colourless.
1462. Test. Ebor. (1855), II. 261. Iiij. bakon-fliks, ij. *beffe-fliks.
1880. Victorian Rev., 2 Feb., 670. For the American *beef-grower to fatten their beef cattle.
1881. Gentl. Mag., Jan., 67. They [wild cattle] are scarcely worth the trouble of keeping, being illbred and averse to *beef-making.
1480. Robt. Devyll, 38. Robert toke a quycke catte … And threwe her quycke into the *beefe potte.
1703. Art’s Improv., I. 14. As big as an ordinary *Beef-Pot.
1880. Victorian Rev., 2 Feb., 665. The production of cheap *beef steers.
1853. Q. Rev., March, 397. An equal quantity of melted *beef-suet.
5. Special comb.: † beef-brained ppl. a., thick-headed, stupid; † beef-brewis, -broth, broth made from beef; beef-ham, beef cured in the same fashion as a ham, by salting, smoking, etc.; beef-head, a thick-head, a block-head; beef-measles, a parasitic disease, which sometimes attacks cattle; beef-tapeworm, Tænia mediocancellata; beef-tea, the juice of beef extracted by prolonged simmering in a very little water, used as a nutritious food for invalids; beef-witted a. (= beef-brained); hence beef-wittedness. See also BEEFEATER, BEEF-STEAK, BEEF-WOOD.
1627. Feltham, Resolves, I. x. (1647), 28. A *beefe-brain’d fellow that hath only impudence enough to shew himself a foole.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xiv. The monks … are merriest … when they sup *beef-brewis for lenten-kail.
1703. Art’s Improv., I. 26. Supply it with the Fat of Powder’d *Beef-broth.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxiv. A huge piece of cold *beef-ham.
1775. Ld. Cavendish, in Burke’s Corr. (1844), II. 86. The petition … should be framed so as to … draw off some of the *beef-heads who are disposed against it.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 20/1. Drawings of … *Beef Measles and the *Beef-tapeworm.
1783. Med. Commun., I. 140. She was ordered *beef-tea.
1861. Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, 52. A small quantity of beef tea added to other articles of food makes them more nourishing.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., 91. He gives us the very beef-tea of history, nourishing and even palatable enough.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. i. 14. Thou mungrel *beefe-witted Lord.
1820. Class. Jrnl., 174, note. Whence has originated the prevailing opinion of his [Ajax’s] *‘beef-wittedness?’
1863. Reader, 22 Aug. This British bull-neckedness, this British beef-wittedness.
