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Glite Dictionary
ground beef

ground beef

19 1.0
Finely chopped meat from a cow used for cooking
  • noun
  • /ɡraʊnd biːf/
  • US
translation icon : carne molida
  • We use 17 million pounds of ground beef a year.
  • pounds of ground beef
  • ground beef samples
  • consumption of ground beef

We get monthly shipments of ground beef from your in laws.

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Examples

  • The kids would love ground beef, which we had in the freezer downstairs.

    Garden Answer

  • Hey, Lil, I'm going to borrow some of your ground beef, okay?

    Red Rocket (2021)

  • Can I have a pound of your ground beef?

    Heartburn (1986)

  • Would you mind going out to the fridge in the garage and getting me some ground beef?

    Home Sweet Hell (2015)

  • But I don't think it would replace ground beef in my life.

  • So it's ground beef and cheese in a crepe situation.

  • Plan to use or freeze your ground beef within a few days for maximum flavor and freshness.

    Blog text (21)

  • The basis of a hamburger is, of course, the ground beef from which you make the "patties."

    Blog text (20)

  • My family traditionally uses a mixture of ground beef or veal, but a lot of families use lamb.

    Blog text (6)

  • Can I have a pound of your ground beef?

Synonyms

beef
vsground beef
357 1.0

Meat from a cow or bull used for food

is meat that is minced or chopped specifically for cooking use
hamburger
vsground beef
65 1.0

Raw ground beef used to make patties or meat dishes

is meat minced or chopped for general cooking use rather than only patties

How Processed

meat crayon
  • Slang
9.9
Spam
24 1.9
burger
406 1.0
sausage
184 1.0
ground beef
  • US
19 1.0
steak
474 1.0

Surface Forms

ground beef singular
ground beefs plural

Morphology

grind + beef

The phrase is compositionally built from 'ground' (the past participle of 'grind', meaning reduced to small pieces) + 'beef', so its meaning 'beef that has been minced' is directly derivable from the constituents. This participle+noun pattern for processed food is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the component meanings will readily understand it.

Etymology

Ground beef comes from the way it is made: cooks put pieces of beef through a grinder so the meat becomes ground, or very small bits. That's why ground beef means 'beef that has been minced or finely chopped'.