Beat — Defs

01 v. t. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to forc…

imp. Beat; p. p. Beat; p. pr. & vb. n. Beating

1.
To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum.
“Thou shalt beat some of it [spices] very small.” — Ex. xxx. 36.

“They did beat the gold into thin plates.” — Ex. xxxix. 3.
2.
To punish by blows; to thrash.
3.
To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game.
“To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey.” — Prior.
4.
To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind.
“A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms.” — Milton.
5.
To tread, as a path.
“Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way.” — Blackmore.
6.
To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to.
“He beat them in a bloody battle.” — Prescott.

“For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that.” — M. Arnold.
7.
To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out.[Colloq.]
8.
To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
“Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic?” — Locke.
9.
To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc.(Mil.) See: Alarm, Charge, Parley
10.
to baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person); as, it beats me why he would do that.
11.
to evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment); as, to beat the rap (be acquitted); to beat the sales tax by buying out of state.

Phrases & compounds

To beat down — to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down.

To beat into — to teach or instill, by repetition.

To beat off — to repel or drive back.

To beat out — to extend by hammering.

To beat out of — to cause to relinquish it, or give it up.

To beat the dust — To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse.

To beat the hoof — to walk; to go on foot.

To beat the wing — to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation.

To beat time — to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.

To beat up — to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters.

Syn. To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome.

02 v. i. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.

1.
To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
“The men of the city . . . beat at the door.” — Judges. xix. 22.
2.
To move with pulsation or throbbing.
“A thousand hearts beat happily.” — Byron.
3.
To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.
“Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below.” — Dryden.

“They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.” — Longfellow.

“The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.” — Jonah iv. 8.

“Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.” — Bacon.
4.
To be in agitation or doubt.[Poetic]
“To still my beating mind.” — Shak.
5.
To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.(Naut.)
6.
To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat.
7.
To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.(Mil.)
8.
To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.(Acoustics & Mus.)

Phrases & compounds

A beating wind — a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress.

To beat about — to try to find; to search by various means or ways.

To beat about the bush — to approach a subject circuitously.

To beat up and down — to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag.

To beat up for recruits — to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.

To beat the rap — to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent.

03 n. A stroke; a blow.

1.
A stroke; a blow.
“He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat.” — Dryden.
2.
A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse.
3.
The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit.(Mus.)
4.
A sudden swelling or reënforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat, v. i., 8.(Acoustics & Mus.) See: Beat
5.
A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat.
6.
A place of habitual or frequent resort.
7.
A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, deadbeat.[Low] Also: deadbeat

Phrases & compounds

Beat of drum — a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc.

Beat of a watch — the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals.

04 a. Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted.

1.
Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted.[Colloq.]
“Quite beat, and very much vexed and disappointed.” — Dickens.

05 n. One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him.

1.
One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him.[Colloq.]
2.
The act of one that beats a person or thing(Newspaper Cant)
“It's a beat on the whole country.” — Scribner's Mag.
3.
The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.(Hunting)
“Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.” — Encyc. of Sport.
4.
A smart tap on the adversary's blade.(Fencing)