Origin of "beef" as meaning dispute?

[Southern_Yankee]

I can’t seem to find this anywhere. My parents used it all the time (they were from the Bronx in the 30s/40s/50s) and it’s even in our very own description of the Pit. It’s common enough, but where did it come from?

[RealityChuck]

The OED dates it from 19th century US slang:

@OED

4. intr. To complain, grumble, protest. slang (orig. U.S.).

1888 N.Y. World 13 May (Farmer), He’ll beef an’ kick like a steer an’ let on he won’t never wear ‘em.
1922 S. Lewis Babbitt v. 60 Course I wouldn’t beef about it to the fellows at the Roughnecks’ Table there.
1930 P. G. Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves iii. 74 You have beefed about Miss Wickham.

The noun form dies from 1900.

[Greg_Charles]

The Word Detective calls it “origin unknown”:

no one is entirely certain of how “beef” became slang for “an argument” or “a complaint,” a usage which first appeared in the U.S. during the late 1800s. It is entirely possible, however, and perhaps even likely, that “beef” in this sense is simply a sort of shorthand to describe a situation or complaint that might well escalate into a “beefy” muscular conflict

[Lord_Mondegreen]

@RealityChuck

The noun form dies from 1900.

I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. If you mean it stopped being used as a noun around 1900 then a Google search on “have a beef with” contradicts that. There are plenty of contemporary examples of its use as a noun.

Perhaps I have misunderstood.

[Gary_T]

@RealityChuck

The noun form dies from 1900.

@Lord_Mondegreen

I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. If you mean it stopped being used as a noun around 1900 then a Google search on “have a beef with” contradicts that. There are plenty of contemporary examples of its use as a noun.

Perhaps I have misunderstood.

“Dies from” is nonsensical here; I suspect he meant to say “dates from.”