Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BEEF, n. Used as in St.Eng., but note the following special Sc. usages.

1. Human flesh in a jocular way, hence body.Abd. 1768 Ross Helenore 42:
While monie a paik unto his beef they led, Till wi' the thumps he blue an' blae was made. [Given as slang in Farmer and Henley Dict. of Slang.]

Comb. to put on the beef, to gain weight (rapidly).wm.Sc. 1991 Liz Lochhead Bagpipe Muzak 34:
Not really, well, putting on the beef a bit but who hasnae!
Listen...listen, do you mind Joyce Kirdie? Mind, reddish hair, freckles, was always a hoot in the French class, did dentistry?Sc. 1997 Sunday Mail 25 May 25:
Now he is putting on the beef to prove he's an "actor", and has taken a massive pay cut to star with Robert De Niro in the low-budget Copland.Sc. 1998 Aberdeen Evening Express 5 Oct 38:
Hey big ears ... you are fairly putting on the beef!
I was thinking of firing that insult at United boss Paul Sturrock in the hope it would get me banned from Tannadice again. Sc. 2000 Times 22 Apr :
Liberated by a metabolism roughly twice the speed of sound, he's never been worried about putting on the beef. Hence the bad habits.Sc. 2004 Daily Record 17 Mar 10:
Gina Bellman, sexy Jane in the TV series Coupling, is bucking the dieting trend among actresses. She's munching her way through cream cakes to put on a stone. Alas, for most of us putting on the beef is the easy part ...

2. An ox or cow intended for slaughter (E.D.D.). Also U.S., see N.E.D. Suppl.Sc. 1884 Glasgow Herald (5 Jan.):
All the beefs that are ready for shipping.Wgt. 1794 in G. Fraser Lowland Lore (1880) 69:
A Beef sold at £4 4s.

3. (See quot.)Sc. 1933 (per Bnff.¹²):
Amongst the common people beef is applied indiscriminately to all “butcher's meat” — pork, veal, mutton, lamb or beef. [Sense 2 is said to be now arch. or tech. in N.E.D. From O.Fr. boef, Mod.Fr. bœuf.]

Combs.: (1) Beef bree, broth in which beef has been boiled. [′bif′bri:]Bch. 1929 Bothy Ballad (per Abd.¹⁵):
We get beef bree files weel sizzont wi' reek, Wi' three seeds o' barley an' the smell o' a leek. [See Bree.]

(2) Beef-brewis, broth made with beef and vegetables.Sc. 1820 Scott Abbot xiv.:
The monks . . . are merriest . . . when they sup beef-brewis for lanten-kail. [See Brewis.]

(3) Beef brose, brose made with the liquid in which beef has been boiled.Abd. 1900 A. Paterson Memories of Monquhitter in Bnffsh. Jnl. (18 Sept.):
All, old as well as young, had “beef” brose for dinner. [See Brose.]

(4) Beef-brose-day. (See quot.; orig. from F. Douglas East Coast Scot. (1782) 169.)Abd. 1825 J. Mitchell Scotsman's Library 393:
This [brose] is the principal dish upon the festival of Fasten-even, which is emphatically called Beef-brose-day.Abd. 1993:
E kids wid chant 'Beef brose an bannock day. Please gie's a holiday', fae e skweel on Fastern's E'en.

(5) beef-cheese, see quot.n.Sc. 1951 Scots Mag. (July) 294:
I was asked by my aged hostess if I would care for a helping of "beef cheese," . . . It was, in fact, a mixture of hard-boiled eggs and gravy, seasoned with nutmeg, pepper and salt, simmered on a slow fire and turned into a mould to cool.

(6) beef-stand, a tub for holding salted beef. See also Stand, n.²Bnff. 1706 Sc. N. & Q. (Ser. 2) II. 75:
A chest, two ambers, a beafe stand.

(7) Beefy coal. (See quot.)Sc. 1845 Stat. Acc.² I. 559:
The fourth is the beefy coal, which is found fourteen yards deeper than the former [rough coal], and in thickness varies from 3 feet 8 inches to 5 feet.