Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to beef
Participle: beefed
Gerund: beefing
Cognates
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Indicative
Present
| I | beef |
| you | beef |
| he;she;it | beefs |
| we | beef |
| you | beef |
| they | beef |
Perfect
| I | have beefed |
| you | have beefed |
| he;she;it | has beefed |
| we | have beefed |
| you | have beefed |
| they | have beefed |
Past
| I | beefed |
| you | beefed |
| he;she;it | beefed |
| we | beefed |
| you | beefed |
| they | beefed |
Pluperfect
| I | had beefed |
| you | had beefed |
| he;she;it | had beefed |
| we | had beefed |
| you | had beefed |
| they | had beefed |
Future
| I | will beef |
| you | will beef |
| he;she;it | will beef |
| we | will beef |
| you | will beef |
| they | will beef |
Future Perfect
| I | will have beefed |
| you | will have beefed |
| he;she;it | will have beefed |
| we | will have beefed |
| you | will have beefed |
| they | will have beefed |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | beef |
| you | beef |
| he;she;it | beef |
| we | beef |
| you | beef |
| they | beef |
Perfect
| I | have beefed |
| you | have beefed |
| he;she;it | have beefed |
| we | have beefed |
| you | have beefed |
| they | have beefed |
Imperfect
| I | beefed |
| you | beefed |
| he;she;it | beefed |
| we | beefed |
| you | beefed |
| they | beefed |
Pluperfect
| I | had beefed |
| you | had beefed |
| he;she;it | had beefed |
| we | had beefed |
| you | had beefed |
| they | had beefed |
Conditional
Present
| I | would beef |
| you | would beef |
| he;she;it | would beef |
| we | would beef |
| you | would beef |
| they | would beef |
Perfect
| I | would have beefed |
| you | would have beefed |
| he;she;it | would have beefed |
| we | would have beefed |
| you | would have beefed |
| they | would have beefed |
Imperative
| you | beef |
| we | Let's beef |
| you | beef |
Verbs conjugated like 'beef'
abandon,
abduct,
abear,
aberr,
abject,
abord,
abort,
abound,
abraid,
abray,
abrook,
abscind,
abscond,
absist,
absorb,
abstain,
abstract,
accend,
accent,
accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'beef'
beep,
beer,
eef,
reef,
baff,
barf,
bauf,
be,
bead,
beak,
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bovem (“ox”), from Proto-Italic *gʷōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws. Doublet of cow.
2. Beef in the sense of “a grudge, argument” was originally an American slang expression:
3. * 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;
4. * 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.
5. 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. However, 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.
Sample Sentences
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“Don't you like the Red Room?” “The Red Room!” I gathered from his manner that he had not come to beef about his sleeping accommodation. [1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:]
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"Who's Precious?" she beefed when she saw the big tattoo running down my inner arm. [2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 131:]
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First off, the axle housing was beefed by welding areas where extreme loading is evident (black marked areas). [1969, Hot Rod, volume 22, page 59:]
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Ugh, who just beefed in here?
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David was beefing last night after Ruth told him off.
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I beefed my presentation hard yesterday.
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Those two are beefing right now — best you stay out of it.