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When I check the dictionary, I often see the word "of" at the beginning. Can you explain what it exactly means?

Here's an example of the definition "rare" from a dictionary.

Rare:
(of meat, esp beef) very lightly cooked.

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  • It's not exactly at the beginning because the preposition "of" is written in lowercase, the first word is capitalised Rare followed by a parenthetical note enclosed in brackets.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 28 at 8:51
  • @Mari-LouA So does it mean "about" in that context?
    – Shakila
    Commented Sep 28 at 8:54
  • Yes, nearly, it's a similar meaning. The adjective "rare" is used to explain or describe the [level of] doneness of steak, for example.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 28 at 9:01

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A sentence with similar use of of is "We may say of meat that it is rare." You could replace of with describing in your example.

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  • So the "of" means "about" in this context, doesn't it? About meat
    – Shakila
    Commented Sep 26 at 5:53
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    Yes, or "used to when speaking about".
    – Peter
    Commented Sep 26 at 5:56

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