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Beef - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
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Origin and history of beef

beef(n.)

c. 1300, "an ox, bull, or cow," also the flesh of one when killed, used as food, from Old French buef "ox; beef; ox hide" (11c., Modern French boeuf), from Latin bovem (nominative bos, genitive bovis) "ox, cow," from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow." The original plural in the animal sense was beeves.

beef(v.)

"to complain," slang, 1888, American English, from noun meaning "complaint" (1880s). The noun meaning "argument" is recorded from 1930s. The origin and signification of these are unclear; perhaps they trace to the common late 19c. complaint of soldiers about the quantity or quality of beef rations.

also from 1888

Entries linking to beef

beef up(v.)

"add strength," 1941, from college slang, from beef (n.) in slang sense of "muscle-power" (1851).

beef-eater(n.)

also beefeater, c. 1600 as a general contemptuous term for a well-fed menial; specifically as "warder of the Tower of London" from 1670s; the notion is of "one who eats (another's) beef" (see eater, and compare Old English hlaf-æta "servant," literally "loaf-eater").

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Trends of beef

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

gripe
c. 1200, "to clutch, seize firmly," from Old English gripan "grasp at, lay hold, attack, take, seek to get hold of," from Proto-Germanic *gripan (source also of Old Saxon gripan, Old Norse gripa, Dutch grijpen, Gothic greipan, Old High German grifan, German greifen "to seize"), o
grouse
type of game bird, 1530s, grows (plural, used collectively), of unknown origin, possibly from Latin or Welsh. Originally the moorhen of the British Isles; later the name was extended to similar birds in other places...."complain," 1885 (implied in agent noun grouser), British Arm
crab
popular name for a stalk-eyed, short-tailed, ten-legged crustacean, Middle English crabbe, from Old English crabba, from Proto-Germanic *krabbo- (source also of Dutch krab, Old High German krebiz, German Krabbe, Old Norse krabbi "crab"), related to Low German krabben, Dutch krabe
roast
Roast beef is recorded from 1630s; French rosbif is from English....that have come into French after the invasions of 1814 and 1815, are only imitations of the English way of pronouncing "beef-steak..." and "roast beef," the French not recognizing their word rôti, formerly rosti, in the English sounds of "roast" nor bœuf..., in that of "beef," which in Norman-French was written bœf and buef, and probably pronounced somewhat like the present English...
scouse
A dish much eaten at sea, composed of salt beef, biscuit and onions, well peppered, and stewed together....
chip
Chipped beef attested from 1826....
sirloin
early 15c., surloine, shurleyne, surloyne, a cut of beef, from 16c. identified specifically as the upper part of the loin...By folk-etymology this is because the cut of beef was "knighted" by an English king for its superiority, a tale variously...
complain
late 14c., compleinen, "lament, bewail, grieve," also "find fault, express dissatisfaction, criticize," also "make a formal accusation or charge to an authority," from stem of Old French complaindre "to lament" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *complangere, originally "to beat the breas
plain
c. 1300, "flat, smooth," from Old French plain "flat, smooth, even" (12c.), from Latin planus "flat, even, level" (from PIE root *pele- (2) "flat; to spread"). Sense of "explicit, clear, evident" is from late 14c.; that of "free from obstruction" is mid-14c.; meaning "simple, sin
Angus
masc. proper name, Scottish, related to Irish Aonghus, a compound that may be rendered in English as "having solitary strength," or else "one choice, sole choice." From Celtic oen "one" (from PIE root *oi-no- "one, unique") + Old Irish gus "ability, excellence, strength, inclinat

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