Dictionary

Italian beef en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• audio Chicago

Etymology

Shortening of "Italian beef sandwich", because the sandwiches were made, using beef, by Italian immigrants in Chicago.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:Chicago) A sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef on a dense, long Italian-style roll.
   • One evening in the autumn of my freshman year, my appetite casually drifted toward the pleasant thought of an Italian beef. Maybe double-dipped (sopped with gravy), hot and sweet (with giardiniera and peppers). 2013, Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie: Midwestern Writers on Food, page 24:
   • Chicago's Mr. Beef is one of the best places to enjoy an Italian beef. 2009, 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late, page 261:
   • I changed my eating habits and stopped eating after 6 p.m. I switched from eating Italian beefs, drinking high-calorie mocha lattes and big sodas to drinking lots of water, eating salmon and having oatmeal for breakfast. 2006, “Losing Weight The Old-Fashioned Way”, in Ebony, volume 61, number 9, page 77:

Forms