C19 bully, anglicized version of French bouilli, from boeuf bouilli boiled beef
bully beef in American English
noun
canned or pickled beef
Word origin
[1865–70]This word is first recorded in the period 1865–70. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: batting average, goulash, racism, springboard, tick-tack-toe
Examples of 'bully beef' in a sentence
bully beef
Even the veld has not managed to consume the old tins of bully beef.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Bully-beef tins are opened, and ration bread and biscuits.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
We know what bully beef is, but few are aware that a sandbag of the stuff made 'splendid material for roofing a dug-out'.
The Times Literary Supplement (2014)
Old tins of bully beef can be thrown across, and if they are old enough they might explode, and then again they might not!