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the flesh of a cow, steer, or bull raised and killed for its meat.
an adult cow, steer, or bull raised for its meat.
Informal.

brawn; muscular strength.
strength; power.
weight, as of a person.
human flesh.

Slang.

a complaint.
an argument or dispute.

Slang. to complain; grumble.
beef up,

to add strength, numbers, force, etc., to; strengthen:
During the riots, the nighttime patrol force was beefed up with volunteers.
to increase or add to:
to beef up our fringe benefits.

Contemporary Examples

Once you begin to pick up on these things, the preposterousness of “beefing up security” becomes worryingly self-evident.
The Strange World of Political Assassination Fantasies James Poulos September 23, 2014

Others have focused on beefing up new product categories to keep pace with the changing times.
Domino’s Fried-Chicken Pizza Means We’ve Hit Peak Food Trolling Daniel Gross April 15, 2014

Still, rebel leaders insist the city is beefing up its defenses covertly.
The Libyan Rebels’ Decisive Next Battle Babak Dehghanpisheh March 13, 2011

The U.S. campaign against ISIS leans on two pillars: conducting airstrikes, and beefing up local forces.
Pentagon Insider on New Plan to Fight ISIS: ‘Of Course It’s Not Enough’ Nancy A. Youssef January 5, 2015

Historical Examples

“Always you’re beefing about something happening what ain’t going to happen, Abe,” Morris retorted.
Potash & Perlmutter Montague Glass

A large and favorite German apple, of first-rate quality, for culinary purposes, and very much resembling our Norfolk beefing.
British Pomology Robert Hogg

Finally he arrived, bringing the mule and feeling very much like beefing it when he got home.
Forty Years Among the Indians Daniel W. Jones

noun
the flesh of various bovine animals, esp the cow, when killed for eating
(pl) beeves (biːvz). an adult ox, bull, cow, etc, reared for its meat
(informal) human flesh, esp when muscular
(pl) beefs. a complaint
verb
(intransitive) (slang) to complain, esp repeatedly: he was beefing about his tax
(informal) (transitive) often foll by up. to strengthen; reinforce
n.

c.1300, from Old French buef “ox; beef; ox hide” (11c., Modern French boeuf), from Latin bovem (nominative bos, genitive bovis) “ox, cow,” from PIE root *gwou- “cow, ox, bull” (see cow (n.)). Original plural was beeves.
v.

“to complain,” slang, 1888, American English, from noun meaning “complaint” (1880s). The noun meaning “argument” is recorded from 1930s. The origin and signification are unclear; perhaps it traces to the common late 19c. complaint of U.S. soldiers about the quantity or quality of beef rations.

noun

A complaint; grievance: Her mother called up to register a beef (1890s+)
A criminal charge or indictment: ”What was your beef, Jim?” ”Robbery” (1910+ Underworld)
A quarrel; argument: I’ve got no beef with you, buddy (1930s+)
A customer’s bill or check; bad news, the DAMAGE (1930s+)
Muscle; strength; huskiness (mid-1800s+)
Bulkiness; fleshiness; mass: The old chorus girls had lots of beef, not like now (mid-1800s+)
The penis (1890+)

verb

: The hospital beefed when the city announced plans (1880s+)
To quarrel: We started beefing with each other (1930s+)

In addition to the idiom beginning with beef