Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to give the alarm, to call a hue and cry; thus get beef, to be pursued by a hue and cry .

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: beef to alarm, as To cry Beef upon us; they have discover’d us, and are in Pursuit of us.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Beef, to cry beef (cant); to give the alarm. They have cried beef on us.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Beef, to cry beef (cant); to give the alarm. They have cried beef on us.
1828		Lytton Pelham III 295: ‘What ho, my kiddy,’ cried Job, ‘don’t be glimflashy; why you’d cry beef on a blater.’.
1832		Morn. Post (London) 4 Oct. 4/4: The policeman would not swear that the boy did not cry ‘Hot beef’ and that he might not have mistaken it for a cry of ‘Stop thief’.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 333: We many times got beef, and were several times nigh being grabbed.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 28: ‘Frisk the dummy of the screens, ding it and bolt; they are crying out beef,’ take out the money and throw the pocket-book away; run, they are crying, ‘stop thief!’.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 313/1: to cry beef, [...] donner l’alarme.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 40/2: The fellow must be ‘neddied,’ no matter who he is, and that before he can give ‘beef’ too.
1867		Memphis Dly Appeal (TN) 12 Mar. 3/3: A victim is styled a ‘bloke’ [...] ‘the bloke cried beef’ signifies [...] ‘the victim cried police’.
1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 506: I gave a twist round and gave him a push and guyed. He followed, giving me hot beef (calling ‘Stop thief’).
1887		‘Dagonet’ ‘A Plank Bed Ballad’ in Referee 12 Feb. n.p.: I guyed, but the reeler he gave me hot beef / And a scuff came about me and hollered.
1890		C. Hindley Vocab. and Gloss. in True Hist. of Tom and Jerry 157: Beef. To cry Beef is to give the alarm.

to cry ‘stop thief!’.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: To Sing. To call out; the coves sing out beef; they call out stop thief.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to cry ‘stop thief!’.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: They Squeek beef upon us, cry out Highway-men or Thieves after us.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: They squeak beef upon us; they cry out thieves after us.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

to raise the alarm.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: They Whiddle beef, and we must Brush, c. they cry out Thieves, we are Pursued, and must Fly.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: They whiddle beef, and we must brush; they cry out thieves, and we must make off.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.