Cut beef, by the sound of it (4)
I believe the answer is:
mown
'cut' is the definition.
(past tense of 'mow')
'beef by the sound of it' is the wordplay.
'beef' becomes 'moan' (I've seen this before).
'by the sound of it' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'moan' sounds like 'MOWN'.
(Other definitions for mown that I've seen before include "Block of cast metal" , "Cut down with a blade" , "(Of grass) cut" .)