beat
Americanverb (used with object)
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to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly.
Before there were vacuum cleaners, you had to hang rugs on a line and beat them with a stick to get the dust out.
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to dash against.
We could hear the rain beating the trees outside the window.
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to flutter, flap, or rotate in or against.
The hummingbird beat the air with its wings.
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to overcome in a contest; defeat.
They beat us by 12 points.
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to win over in a race (used withto ).
I'll beat you to the corner!
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to be superior to.
Making reservations beats waiting in line.
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Informal. to be incomprehensible to; baffle.
It beats me how he got the job.
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to mitigate or offset the effects of.
One way to beat the hot weather is to go swimming.
We beat the interest rate hike by consolidating our debt into a line of credit.
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to sound, such as on a drum.
She beat a steady rhythm on the bongos.
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to stir vigorously.
Beat the egg whites well.
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to break, forge, or make by blows.
The blacksmith beat the red-hot iron into a horseshoe.
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to produce (an attitude, idea, habit, etc.) by repeated efforts.
He made his piano student practice scales one hour a day in the hopes it would beat some discipline into him.
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to make (a path) by repeated walking.
Kids had beaten a path through the woods to the river.
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to strike (a person or animal) repeatedly and injuriously.
Some of the hoodlums beat their victims viciously before robbing them.
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Music. to mark (time) by strokes, such as with the hand or foot or with a metronome.
She beat time to the music with her foot.
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Hunting. to scour (the forest, grass, or brush), and sometimes make noise, in order to rouse game.
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Slang. to swindle; cheat (often followed byout ).
He beat him out of hundreds of dollars on that deal.
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to escape or avoid (blame or punishment).
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Textiles. to strike (the loose pick) into its proper place in the woven cloth by beating the loosely deposited filling yarn with the reed.
verb (used without object)
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to strike repeated blows; pound.
She kept beating on my door, so I finally opened it.
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to throb or pulsate.
His heart began to beat faster.
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to dash; strike (usually followed by against oron ).
The sound of hail beating on the roof was deafening.
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to make a sound when struck.
We could hear drums beating in the distance.
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to play, such as on a drum.
I began beating softly on the drums, picking up the rhythm as they sang.
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to achieve victory in a contest; win.
Which team do you think will beat?
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to scour cover for game.
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Physics. to make a beat or beats.
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(of a cooking ingredient) to foam or stiffen as a result of beating or whipping.
This cream won't beat.
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Nautical. to tack to windward by sailing close-hauled.
noun
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a stroke or blow.
A beat on the head with that thing could kill you.
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the sound made by one or more blows.
The beat of drums was coming from the school’s music room.
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a throb or pulsation.
The patient had a pulse of 60 beats per minute.
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the ticking sound made by a clock or watch escapement.
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one's assigned or regular path or habitual round.
The police officer was familiar with all the businesses on her beat.
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Journalism.
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Also called newsbeat, run. the particular news source or activity that a reporter is responsible for covering.
She covers the city hall beat.
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the reporting of a piece of news in advance, especially before it is reported by a rival or rivals.
Getting the beat on that story was my lucky break as a reporter.
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Music.
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the audible, visual, or mental marking of the metrical divisions of music.
In 4/4 time, there are four beats to the bar.
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a stroke of the hand, baton, etc., marking the time division or an accent for music during performance.
Watch the conductor carefully so you can come in on his first beat.
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Theater. a momentary time unit imagined by an actor in timing actions.
Wait four beats and then pick up the phone.
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Prosody. the accent stress, or ictus, in a foot or rhythmical unit of poetry.
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Physics. a pulsation caused by the coincidence of the amplitudes of two oscillations of unequal frequencies, having a frequency equal to the difference between the frequencies of the two oscillations.
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a subdivision of a county, such as in Mississippi.
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Informal. Often Beat beatnik.
adjective
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Informal. exhausted; worn out.
After all that gardening I was too beat to do anything but lie on the sofa.
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Often Beat relating to or characteristic of members of the Beat Generation or beatniks.
Jack Kerouac was a Beat poet.
verb phrase
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beat out
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Informal. to defeat; win or be chosen over.
We beat out the competition for that contract.
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Baseball. (of a hitter) to make (an infield ground ball or bunt) into a hit.
He beat out a weak grounder to third.
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to produce hurriedly, especially by writing or typing.
There are three days left to beat out the first draft of the novel.
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Carpentry. to cut (a mortise).
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beat off
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to ward off; repulse.
We had to beat off clouds of mosquitoes.
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Slang: Vulgar. to masturbate.
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beat back to force back; compel to withdraw.
They beat back the attackers.
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beat about
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to search through; scour.
After beating about for several hours, he turned up the missing papers.
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Nautical. to tack into the wind.
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beat up
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Also beat up on to strike repeatedly so as to cause painful injury.
Two bullies beat him up on the way home from school.
In the third round the champion really began to beat up on the challenger.
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British Informal. to find or gather; scare up.
I'll beat up some lunch for us while you make out the shopping list.
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beat down. beatdown.
idioms
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beat the air / wind, to make repeated futile attempts.
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beat all, to surpass anything of a similar nature, especially in an astonishing or outrageous way.
The way he came in here and ordered us around beats all!
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beat around / about the bush, to avoid coming to the point; delay in approaching a subject directly.
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off one's beat, outside of one's routine, general knowledge, or range of experience.
He protested that abstract art was off his beat.
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beat it, to depart; go away.
He was pestering me, so I told him to beat it.
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beat the rap, to succeed in evading the penalty for a crime; be acquitted.
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on the beat, in the correct rhythm or tempo.
By the end of the number they were all finally playing on the beat.
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beat a retreat, to withdraw or retreat, especially hurriedly or in disgrace.
verb
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to strike with or as if with a series of violent blows; dash or pound repeatedly (against)
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(tr) to punish by striking; flog
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to move or cause to move up and down; flap
the bird beat its wings heavily
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(intr) to throb rhythmically; pulsate
her heart beat fast
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(tr) to make (one's way) by or as if by blows
she beat her way out of the crowd
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cookery to stir or whisk (an ingredient or mixture) vigorously
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to shape, make thin, or flatten (a piece of metal) by repeated blows
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(tr) music to indicate (time) by the motion of one's hand, baton, etc, or by the action of a metronome
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to produce (a sound or signal) by or as if by striking a drum
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to sound or cause to sound, by or as if by beating
beat the drums!
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to overcome (an opponent) in a contest, battle, etc
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(tr; often foll by back, down, off etc) to drive, push, or thrust
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(tr) to arrive or finish before (someone or something); anticipate or forestall
they set off early to beat the rush hour
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(tr) to form (a path or track) by repeatedly walking or riding over it
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to scour (woodlands, coverts, or undergrowth) so as to rouse game for shooting
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slang (tr) to puzzle or baffle
it beats me how he can do that
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(intr) physics (of sounds or electrical signals) to combine and produce a pulsating sound or signal
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(intr) nautical to steer a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
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slang (tr) to cheat or defraud
he beat his brother out of the inheritance
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to avoid the point at issue; prevaricate
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to withdraw or depart in haste
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slang (often imperative) to go away
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See breast
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slang to kill by knocking severely about the head
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informal to reach a place or achieve an objective before someone else
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(formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
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slang an expression of utter amazement or surprise
noun
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a stroke or blow
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the sound made by a stroke or blow
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a regular sound or stroke; throb
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an assigned or habitual round or route, as of a policeman or sentry
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( as modifier )
beat police officers
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the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music, usually grouped in twos, threes, or fours
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pop or rock music characterized by a heavy rhythmic beat
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( as modifier )
a beat group
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physics the low regular frequency produced by combining two sounds or electrical signals that have similar frequencies
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horology the impulse given to the balance wheel by the action of the escapement
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prosody the accent, stress, or ictus in a metrical foot
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nautical a course that steers a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing
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the act of scouring for game by beating
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the organized scouring of a particular woodland so as to rouse the game in it
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the woodland where game is so roused
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short for beatnik
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fencing a sharp tap with one's blade on an opponent's blade to deflect it
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(modifier, often capital) of, characterized by, or relating to the Beat Generation
a beat poet
beat philosophy
adjective
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Related Words
Beat, hit, pound, strike, thrash refer to the giving of a blow or blows. Beat implies the giving of repeated blows: to beat a rug. To hit is usually to give a single blow, definitely directed: to hit a ball. To pound is to give heavy and repeated blows, often with the fist: to pound a nail, the table. To strike is to give one or more forceful blows suddenly or swiftly: to strike a gong. To thrash implies inflicting repeated blows as punishment, to show superior strength, and the like: to thrash a prisoner. See pulsate.
Other Word Forms
- beatable adjective
- overbeat verboverbeat, overbeaten, overbeating
- underbeat noun
Etymology
Origin of beat
First recorded before 900; Middle English beten, Old English bēatan; cognate with Old Norse bauta, Middle Low German bōten, Old High German bōzzan; akin to Middle Irish búalaim “I hit,” Latin fūstis “stick”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We have beaten a lot of big teams recently, but we haven't beaten City for a long time, especially at the Cottage.
From BBC
Transportation in particular has taken a beating from tariffs, which in some cases have led companies to move manufacturing overseas instead of reshoring to the U.S., said ISM.
Zhao, 28, made snooker history in May when he became the first Chinese player to win the World Championship, beating Mark Williams 18-12 in the final at the Crucible in Sheffield.
From BBC
If Celtic beat Dundee and Hearts see off Kilmarnock on Wednesday, Nancy could take his new club top of the Premiership with a win in his first match in charge.
From BBC
Zeroing in on specific sectors, Macquarie highlights that Resources have beaten All Industrials in the last five cycles, led by gains in Mining.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
