roast beef

plural roast beefs · alternative roastbeef

1. countableuncountableBeef cooked by roasting.
2. countableuncountableA 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

   2 more examples

   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. countableuncountableA 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

   1 more example

   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. countableuncountableA 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