beat all

Idioms  

1. Surpass anything, especially in a strange or amazing way, as in Adam and his cousin Eve eloped—doesn't that beat all! This phrase appears to have replaced beat the Dutch. It is often used in a negative construction, as in the example. [Slang; first half of 1800s] Also see to beat the band.

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Example Sentences

The earnings beat all boils down to the artificial-intelligence boom, which has driven up demand for data and hard drives.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

But Pretty Little Baby by the late Connie Francis has beat all of them to claim TikTok's global song of the year, six decades after its release in 1962.

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2025

“Suck it up,” she told herself over and over, repeating the mantra to help her complete the marathon and beat all other under-20-year-old female runners by a full hour.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2024

"Simply stated, while it beat all expectations, there was a great deal of expectations built into that above and beyond where the analysts were," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

From Reuters • Aug. 24, 2023

When the curfew drums beat, all I want is sleep.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir