beefeater

noun

1. a yeoman of the English royal guard or a warder of the Tower of London.
2. Informal. an Englishman.
3. a person who eats beef.

noun

1. a nickname often applied to the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders at the Tower of London

n.

“warder of the Tower of London,” 1670s, a contemptuous reference to well-fed servants of the royal household; the notion is of “one who eats another’s beef” (cf. Old English hlaf-æta “servant,” literally “loaf-eater”).