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verb Beat v. t. (past beat; past part. beaten; pres. part. 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." "They did beat the gold into thin plates." 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." 4.To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind. "A frozen continent... beat with perpetual storms." 5.To tread, as a path. "Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way." 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." "For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that." 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?" 9.(Mil.) 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. 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. To beat down, to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down. (Colloq.) 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 a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. "Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it to this day." To beat the dust. (Man.) (a)To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse. (b)To perform curvets too precipitately or too low. 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. Synonyms: To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome.
Beat v. i. (past beat; past part. beaten; pres. part. beating) 1.To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. "The men of the city... beat at the door." 2.To move with pulsation or throbbing. "A thousand hearts beat happily." 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." "They (winds) beat at the crazy casement." "The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die." "Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers." 4.To be in agitation or doubt. (Poetic) "To still my beating mind." 5.(Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. 6.To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. 7.(Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. 8.(Acoustics & Mus.) 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. A beating wind (Naut.), 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 (Hunting), 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.
noun Beating n. 1.The act of striking or giving blows; punishment or chastisement by blows. 2.Pulsation; throbbing; as, the beating of the heart. 3.(Acoustics & Mus.) Pulsative sounds. See Beat, n. 4.(Naut.) The process of sailing against the wind by tacks in zigzag direction.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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