different between keef vs beef
keef
English
Noun
keef (uncountable)
- Alternative spelling of kif
keef From the web:
beef
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)
- (uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull, or other bovine.
- Synonyms: cowflesh, oxflesh
- Hyponym: veal
- (in the meat industry, on product packaging) The edible portions of a cow (including those which are not meat).
- (by extension, slang, uncountable) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.
- (figuratively, slang, uncountable) Essence, content; the important part of a document or project.
- Synonym: meat
- (uncountable) Bovine animals.
- (archaic, countable, plural: beeves) A single bovine (cow or bull) being raised for its meat.
- (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)
- (intransitive) To complain.
- (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).
- (intransitive, slang) To fart; break wind.
- (African-American Vernacular, intransitive, slang) To feud or hold a grudge against.
- (intransitive, chiefly Yorkshire) To cry.
- (transitive, slang) To fail or mess up.
Derived terms
- beef up
- beef out
Adjective
beef (not comparable)
- 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.
Related terms
- beefy
Translations
References
Anagrams
- Feeb, feeb
Afrikaans
Verb
beef (present beef, present participle bewende, past participle gebeef)
- Alternative form of bewe
Dutch
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -e?f
Verb
beef
- first-person singular present indicative of beven
- imperative of beven
beef From the web:
- what beef to use for stew
- what beef for pot roast
- what beef to use for jerky
- what beef roast is the most tender
- what beef to use for stir fry
- what beef to use for beef and broccoli
- what beef for stir fry
- what beef is best for pot roast