v., beat, beat·en (bēt'n), or beat, beat·ing, beats. v.tr.
- To strike repeatedly.
- To subject to repeated beatings or physical abuse; batter.
- To punish by hitting or whipping; flog.
- To strike against repeatedly and with force; pound: waves beating the shore.
- To flap, especially wings.
- To strike so as to produce music or a signal: beat a drum.
- Music. To mark or count (time or rhythm), especially with the hands or with a baton.
- To shape or break by repeated blows; forge: beat the glowing metal into a dagger.
- To make by pounding or trampling: beat a path through the jungle.
- To mix rapidly with a utensil: beat two eggs in a bowl.
- To defeat or subdue, as in a contest.
- To force to withdraw or retreat: beat back the enemy.
- To dislodge from a position: I beat him down to a lower price.
- Informal. To be superior to or better than: Riding beats walking.
- Slang. To perplex or baffle: It beats me; I don't know the answer.
- Informal.
- To avoid or counter the effects of, often by thinking ahead; circumvent: beat the traffic.
- To arrive or finish before (another): We beat you home by five minutes.
- To deprive, as by craft or ability: He beat me out of 20 dollars with his latest scheme.
- Physics. To cause a reference wave to combine with (a second wave) so that the frequency of the second wave can be studied through time variations in the amplitude of the combination.
- To inflict repeated blows.
- To pulsate; throb.
- To emit sound when struck: The gong beat thunderously.
- To strike a drum.
- To flap repeatedly.
- To shine or glare intensely: The sun beat down on us all day.
- To fall in torrents: The rain beat on the roof.
- To hunt through woods or underbrush in search of game.
- Nautical. To sail in the direction from which the wind blows.
- A stroke or blow, especially one that produces a sound or serves as a signal.
- A pulsation or throb.
- Physics. A variation in amplitude that results from the superpositioning of two or more waves of different frequencies. When sound waves are combined, the variation is heard as a pulsation in the sound.
- Music.
- A steady succession of units of rhythm.
- A gesture used by a conductor to indicate such a unit.
- A pattern of stress that produces the rhythm of verse.
- A variable unit of time measuring a pause taken by an actor, as for dramatic effect.
- The area regularly covered by a reporter, a police officer, or a sentry: television's culture beat.
- The reporting of a news item obtained ahead of one's competitors.
- often Beat A member of the Beat Generation.
- Informal. Worn-out; fatigued.
- often Beat Of or relating to the Beat Generation.
beat off
- To drive away.
- Vulgar Slang. To masturbate.
- Baseball. To reach base safely on (a bunt or ground ball) when a putout is attempted.
beat all
- To be impressive or amazing. Often used in negative conditional constructions: If that doesn't beat all!
- To make a hasty withdrawal.
- To fail to confront a subject directly.
- To leave hurriedly.
- To make an exhaustive search.
- To give enthusiastic public support or promotion: a politician who beats the drum for liberalism.
- To attack physically.
- To criticize or scold harshly.
- To an extreme degree.
[Middle English beten, from Old English bēaten.]
SYNONYMS beat, baste, batter, belabor, buffet, hammer, lambaste, pound, pummel, thrash. These verbs mean to hit heavily and repeatedly with violent blows: was mugged and beaten; basted him with a stick; was battered in the boxing ring; rioting students belabored by police officers; buffeted him with her open palm; hammered the opponent with his fists; lambasted every challenger; troops pounded with mortar fire; pummeled the bully soundly; thrashed the thief for stealing the candy. See also synonyms at defeat.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
