beef trust

English

Etymology

Originally the name of a conglomerate of beef producers; later adopted ironically by US carnival showman WB ‘Billy’ Watson, who used it as the name for his sideshow of overweight women.

Noun

beef trust (plural beef trusts)

  1. (US slang) An overweight or obese person; also used as a collective singular.
    • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, Payback Press 1999, p. 91:
      The beef trust was out in full force – these landladies were all shaped up like barrels, wherever there wasn't a crease in their meat there was a dimple.
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