BEEF

beef. Beef, n. the flesh of an ox, cow, or bull; a. of beef

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Beef (bēf), n. [[OE. boef, befe, beef, OF. boef, buef, F. bœef, fr. L. bos, bovis, ox; akin to Gr. βου̑σ, Skr. gō cow, and E. cow. See 2d Cow.]] 1. 1. An animal of the genus Bos, especially the common species, B. taurus, including the bull, cow, and ox, in their full grown state; esp., an ox or cow fattened for food. [In this, which is the original sense, the word has a plural, beeves (bēvz).]
A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine. Milton. 2. 2. The flesh of an ox, or cow, or of any adult bovine animal, when slaughtered for food. “Great meals of beef.” Shak.
3. 3. Applied colloquially to human flesh.