beef

I. n

1.

a complaint or grudge. This use of the word has occurred in American English since the early years of the 20th century, originating in the speech of criminals, pugilists and marginals, etc. Since the 1940s British speakers have also employed it and it has become a vogue term in youth slang since 2000. The relationship between this sense of the word and its literal meaning is not clear; the colloquial notion of 'brawn' may be involved.

► 'I just wanna tell you, I got no beef about last night.' (Miami Vice, US TV series, 1987)

2.

British

a fight. An item of black street-talk used especially by males, recorded in 2003, based on the older colloquial sense of beef as a grudge or complaint.

► There was beef.

II. vb

1.

to complain. In the 19th-century lan-guage of street sellers, and later in the theatre, beef was associated with shout-ing, yelling and hence complaining. By the early 20th century the word was in use in the USA in the sense of a grudge or complaint, but it is unclear whether the usages are related.

2.

American

to fart. The usage may be inspired by the rhyme or pun on 'beef-heart' (a meat product).

III.

beef (someone)

vb

to have sex with.

A vulgarism in use all over the English-speaking world. Beef has had sexual connotations, deriving from its use as a synonym for flesh, for hundreds of years. Since the 1980s, the verb to pork is more common.