Dictionary

roast beef en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From roast + beef. Doublet of rosbif, a reborrowing.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Beef cooked by roasting.
2. (countable, uncountable) A cut of beef that has been roasted.
   • I tell the waiter, 'We'll have two roast beefs, one well-done, the other medium rare.' 2000, Phyllis-Terri Gold, Saving Grace: A Spiritual Love Story, page 51:
   • But the cars & trucks held cartons of roast chickens, slabs of cheeses, loaves of bread, racks of hotdogs, case upon case of soft drinks, cases of bottled sparkling water, pies, cakes, roast beefs & baked hams. 2008, Red Jordan Arobateau, Leader of the Pack, page 136:
   • No delicate little tidbits at these parties; there are buckets of shrimps and oysters, roast beefs and hams and tables of sweets with smiling corporate heads and their lobbyists to greet the guests. 2010, Mariana De Saint Phalle, Mariana's Letters, page 94:
3. (countable, uncountable) A cut of beef intended for roasting.
   • We had a freezer up until maybe two years ago. We used to pack a lot of roast beefs. 2009, Carole M. Counihan, A Tortilla Is Like Life: Food and Culture in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, page 80:
   • Two or three times a week I had to deliver fifteen- or twenty-pound roast beefs to delis around the Bronx so that they could cook them and slice them up for sandwiches. 1999, Michael Pearson, Dreaming of Columbus: A Boyhood in the Bronx, page 152:
4. (countable, uncountable) A portion of roasted beef.
   • Because there, in the middle of the table, among the roast beefs on rolls,[…] 2006, Allen Rosenshine, Funny Business: Moguls, Mobsters, Megastars, and the Mad, Mad World of the Ad Game, page 117:

Forms

Deriveds

roast-beef plant · roast beef curtains

Descendants

rostbiff · Roastbeef · 로스트비프 · rosbif · ροστ μπιφ · ローストビーフ · rostbef · ро́стбиф · rosbif · rosbif

Translations (34)

bar Rindsbråtn (Beef cooked by roasting) · ja ローストビーフ (Beef cooked by roasting) · sv rostbiff (Beef cooked by roasting) · tr rozbif (Beef cooked by roasting) · es rosbif (Beef cooked by roasting) · pl rostbef (Beef cooked by roasting) · it rosbiffe (Beef cooked by roasting) · ko 로스트비프 (Beef cooked by roasting) · el ροσμπίφ (Beef cooked by roasting) · it manzo arrostito (Beef cooked by roasting) · ar لَحْم بَقَر مَشْوِي (Beef cooked by roasting) · de Rinderbraten (Beef cooked by roasting) · id sapi panggang (Beef cooked by roasting) · it arrosto di manzo (Beef cooked by roasting) · it manzo arrosto (Beef cooked by roasting) · cmn 烤牛肉 (Beef cooked by roasting) · da roastbeef (Beef cooked by roasting) · pt rosbife (Beef cooked by roasting) · de Rindsbraten (Beef cooked by roasting) · pdt Rintsbroden (Beef cooked by roasting) · nl rosbief (Beef cooked by roasting) · fr rosbif (Beef cooked by roasting) · el ροστ μπιφ (Beef cooked by roasting) · fi paahtopaisti (Beef cooked by roasting) · nl roastbeef (Beef cooked by roasting) · ru ро́стбиф (Beef cooked by roasting) · de Roastbeef (Beef cooked by roasting) · da oksesteg (Beef cooked by roasting) · ca rosbif (Beef cooked by roasting) · it rosbif (Beef cooked by roasting) · io rosbifo (Beef cooked by roasting) · bg ростбиф (Beef cooked by roasting) · ga mairteoil rósta (Beef cooked by roasting) · fr roastbeef (Beef cooked by roasting)