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Beef About Something
Beef About Something
Beef About Something : Phrases
Meaning:
To complain or moan.
Example:
(1) Where's the beef?
(2) He beefed about the facilities available at this hotel.
Origin:
This phrase allegedly comes from the London criminal underworld, well known to be full of cockney rhyming slang. The traditional shout of stop thief! was mocked by being replaced by hot beef, hot beef in criminal circles who thought that the shouters of stop thief were making an unnecessary fuss. The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue defines Beef as: to cry beef; to give the alarm.
See our sections on Cockney Rhyming Slang and Slang.
