corned beef

(kôrnd)

Beef, usually brisket, round, or rump, that is seasoned with spices and cured in brine.

[From corn, to preserve with granulated salt or brine.]

Word History: One might wonder where the corn in corned beef is, since there are no yellow kernels of maize to be found in a corned beef sandwich. Upon contemplation, some people may even reason that the beef must have come from cattle fed with corn—that is, maize. In fact, corned beef originally referred to beef preserved by corning, or dry-curing with salt. The word corn was used in the past to describe the large, coarse grains of salt that were sprinkled and rubbed onto beef, or into which the beef was set to cure, according to the methods traditionally used to make corned beef. (This method is still used today to make cured meats like prosciutto.) Nowadays, however, most corned beef is soaked in brine rather than corned.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

corned′ beef′

beef cured in a seasoned brine and cooked.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

corned beef - beef cured or pickled in brine

bully beef, corn beef

boeuf, beef - meat from an adult domestic bovine

Translations

لَحْـم بَقَـر مُعَلَّب

hovězí v konzervě

sprængt oksekød

Büchsenfleisch

corned-beef

besózott marhahús

léttsaltaî nautakjöt

manzo sotto sale

sprengt oksekjøtt

hovädzie v konzerve

konserve sığır eti

咸牛肉

corned beef

[ˌkɔːndˈb>iːf] N → carne f de vaca en conserva

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

corned beef

n → Corned Beef nt, → Cornedbeef nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

corned beef

[ˈkɔːndˈbiːf] n → carne f di manzo in scatola

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

corn¹

(koːn) noun

1. the seeds of cereal plants, especially (in Britain) wheat, or (in North America) maize.

2. (American grain) the plants themselves. a field of corn.

corn on the cob

an ear of corn (maize) that is cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

corned beef

salted beef (usually cooked and canned).

ˈcornflakes noun plural

crushed pieces of corn eaten with milk (and sugar), usually for breakfast. a bowl of cornflakes; a box of cornflakes.

ˈcornflour noun

finely ground (especially maize) flour.

ˈcornflower noun

a blue-flowered plant.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"I wonder if there's anything to open one of these tins of corned beef?"

There were six bottles of milk unopened and one opened, sixty bottles of mineral water and a large stock of syrups, about two thousand cigarettes and upwards of a hundred cigars, nine oranges, two unopened tins of corned beef and one opened, and five large tins California peaches.

When Bert got to the refreshment shed, he found all the food had vanished except one measured ration of corned beef and three biscuits.

Bert had dropped some of his corned beef, but he found the biscuits in his hand and ate them quietly.

He found them, when he came into sight of them again, seated with their backs against the shed, plates on knee, and a tin of corned beef and a plateful of biscuits between them.

Bert fell back upon imprecations, then he went up to the shed, cursorily examined the possibility of a flank attack, put his gun handy, and set to work, with a convulsive listening pause before each mouthful on the Prince's plate of corned beef. He had finished that up and handed its gleanings to the kitten and he was falling-to on the second plateful, when the plate broke in his hand!

Well, that they wouldn't do, because they would know he had this corned beef; there was enough in this can to last, with moderation, several days.

View in context

"De-vyled" ham was made out of the waste ends of smoked beef that were too small to be sliced by the machines; and also tripe, dyed with chemicals so that it would not show white; and trimmings of hams and corned beef; and potatoes, skins and all; and finally the hard cartilaginous gullets of beef, after the tongues had been cut out.

View in context

The cold potatoes and corned beef were in the wooden tray, and "Regards of Rebecca" stuck on the chopping knife.

View in context

In addition to their ornaments of bead and shell and bone, their pierced ears and nostrils were burdened with safety-pins, wire nails, metal hair-pins, rusty iron handles of cooking utensils, and the patent keys for opening corned beef tins.

View in context

When Saxon had served the beans, and Billy the coffee, she stood still a moment and surveyed the spread meal on the blankets--the canister of sugar, the condensed milk tin, the sliced corned beef, the lettuce salad and sliced tomatoes, the slices of fresh French bread, and the steaming plates of beans and mugs of coffee.

View in context

"Oh, there's corned beef and plenty of poatoes, and I shall get some asparagus and a lobster, `for a relish', as Hannah says.

View in context

corned beef

corned beef

corned′ beef′

corned beef

corned beef

corned beef

corn1

corn¹