Beef (&?;), a. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, beef.
Beef tea, essence of beef, or strong beef broth.
Beef (bēf),
n. [OE. boef, befe,
beef, OF. boef,
buef, F. bœef, fr. L. bos, bovis, ox; akin to Gr. boy^s, Skr. gō cow, and E. cow. See 2d Cow.]
1. An animal of
the genus Bos, especially the common species, B. taurus, including the bull, cow, and
ox, in their
full grown state; esp., an ox or cow
fattened for food. [In this, which is the
original sense, the word has
a plural, beeves (bēvz).]
A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine.
Milton.
2. The flesh of
an ox, or cow, or of any adult bovine animal, when slaughtered for food. [In this sense, the word has
no plural.] "Great meals of beef." Shak.
3.
Applied colloquially to human flesh.
Hear it pronounced