different between beef vs nugget

English

Etymology

From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin b?s (“ox”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *g??ws.

Beef in the sense of “a grudge, argument” was originally an American slang expression:

• attested as a verb “to complain” in 1888: “He'll beef an' kick like a steer an' let on he won't never wear 'em.”— New York World, 13 May;
• attested as a noun “complaint, protest, grievance, sim.” in 1899: “He made a Horrible Beef because he couldn't get Loaf Sugar for his Coffee.”—Fables in Slang (1900) by George Ade, page 80.

As to the possible origin of this American usage, it has been suggested that it can be traced back to a British expression for “alarm”, first recorded in 1725: "BEEF 'to alarm, as To cry beef upon us; they have discover'd us, and are in Pursuit of us". The term "beef" in this context would be a Cockney rhyming slang of thief. The continuous use of a similar expression, including its assumed semantic shift to 'complaint' in the United States from the 1880s onwards, needs further clarification though.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bif/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /bi?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Noun

beef (countable and uncountable, plural beef or beefs or beeves)

1. (uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull, or other bovine.

   Synonyms: cowflesh, oxflesh

   Hyponym: veal

   1. (in the meat industry, on product packaging) The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).

   2. (by extension, slang, uncountable) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.

   3. (figuratively, slang, uncountable) Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.

      Synonym: meat

2. (uncountable) Bovine animals.
3. (archaic, countable, plural: beeves) A single bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.
4. (slang, countable or uncountable, plural: beefs) 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)

Derived terms

Related terms

• bovine

Translations

See also

• beefwood

Verb

beef (third-person singular simple present beefs, present participle beefing, simple past and past participle beefed)

1. (intransitive) To complain.
2. (transitive) To add weight or strength to.

   Synonym: beef up

   • 1969, Hot Rod (volume 22, page 59)

     First off, the axle housing was beefed by welding areas where extreme loading is evident (black marked areas).

3. (intransitive, slang) To fart; break wind.

4. (African-American Vernacular, intransitive, slang) To feud or hold a grudge against.

5. (intransitive, chiefly Yorkshire) To cry.

6. (transitive, slang) To fail or mess up.

Derived terms

• beef up
• beef out

Adjective

beef (not comparable)

1. Being a bovine animal that is being raised for its meat.

2. Producing or known for raising lots of beef.

3. Consisting of or containing beef as an ingredient.

Related terms

• beefy

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Feeb, feeb

Afrikaans

Verb

beef (present beef, present participle bewende, past participle gebeef)

1. Alternative form of bewe

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e?f

Verb

beef

1. first-person singular present indicative of beven
2. imperative of beven

English

Etymology

Probably a diminutive of dialectal nug (“lump, block”) +? -et.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?g'?t, IPA^(key): /?n???t/

Noun

nugget (countable and uncountable, plural nuggets)

1. (countable) A small, compact chunk or clump.

   a gold nugget

2. (countable) A chicken nugget.
   • 2014, Laurie David, The Family Cooks

     By now, we hope you have said “no” to processed nuggets and fingers. Instead, how about taking some real chicken, tossing it with real eggs, a little tangy mustard, and a crunchy quinoa coating?

3. (countable) A tidbit of something valuable.

   a nugget of wisdom

4. (countable) A small piece of tasty food, a tidbit.
5. (uncountable) A type of boot polish.
6. (countable) A bud from the Cannabis sativa plant, especially one that is potent.
7. (countable, slang) An inexperienced, newly trained fighter pilot.
   • 2009, Nick Scipio, Nereids:

     Jack stifled a smirk at the ensign's expressionless non-reaction. He'd been a nugget himself once, the new guy fresh from training.

8. (computing theory) A partial description gleaned from data mining.
   • 2002, Data Mining: A Heuristic Approach (page 93)

     We have previously said that the heuristic algorithms produce good nuggets for most classes and most ? values […]

Derived terms

• chicken nugget
• nug
• nuggetlike
• nugget of truth
• nuggety

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: nugget

Translations

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English nugget.

Noun

nugget m (plural nuggets)

1. A chicken nugget.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:nugget.