top definitions
quizzes
related content
examples
explore dictionary
british
medical
scientific
idioms and phrases

beat

[ beet ]

/ bit /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR beat ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), beat, beat·en or beat, beat·ing.

to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly.

to dash against: rain beating the trees.

to flutter, flap, or rotate in or against: beating the air with its wings.

to sound, as on a drum: beating a steady rhythm; to beat a tattoo.

to stir vigorously: Beat the egg whites well.

to break, forge, or make by blows: to beat their swords into plowshares.

to produce (an attitude, idea, habit, etc.) by repeated efforts: I'll beat some sense into him.

to make (a path) by repeated treading.

to strike (a person or animal) repeatedly and injuriously: Some of the hoodlums beat their victims viciously before robbing them.

Music. to mark (time) by strokes, as with the hand or a metronome.

Hunting. to scour (the forest, grass, or brush), and sometimes make noise, in order to rouse game.

to overcome in a contest; defeat.

to win over in a race: We beat the English challenger to Bermuda.

to be superior to: Making reservations beats waiting in line.

to be incomprehensible to; baffle: It beats me how he got the job.

to defeat or frustrate (a person), as a problem to be solved: It beats me how to get her to understand.

to mitigate or offset the effects of: beating the hot weather; trying to beat the sudden decrease in land values.

Slang. to swindle; cheat (often followed by out): He beat him out of hundreds of dollars on that deal.

to escape or avoid (blame or punishment).

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), beat, beat·en or beat, beat·ing.

to strike repeated blows; pound.

to throb or pulsate: His heart began to beat faster.

to dash; strike (usually followed by against or on): rain beating against the windows.

to resound under blows, as a drum.

to achieve victory in a contest; win: Which team do you think will beat?

to play, as on a drum.

to scour cover for game.

Physics. to make a beat or beats.

(of a cooking ingredient) to foam or stiffen as a result of beating or whipping: This cream won't beat.

Nautical. to tack to windward by sailing close-hauled.

noun

a stroke or blow.

the sound made by one or more such blows: the beat of drums.

a throb or pulsation: a pulse of 60 beats per minute.

the ticking sound made by a clock or watch escapement.

one's assigned or regular path or habitual round: a policeman's beat.

Music.

the audible, visual, or mental marking of the metrical divisions of music.
a stroke of the hand, baton, etc., marking the time division or an accent for music during performance.

Theater. a momentary time unit imagined by an actor in timing actions: Wait four beats and then pick up the phone.

Prosody. the accent stress, or ictus, in a foot or rhythmical unit of poetry.

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.

Journalism.

the reporting of a piece of news in advance, especially before it is reported by a rival or rivals.Compare exclusive (def. 13), scoop (def. 9).
Also called newsbeat, run. the particular news source or activity that a reporter is responsible for covering.

a subdivision of a county, as in Mississippi.

(often initial capital letter)Informal. beatnik.

adjective

Informal. exhausted; worn out.

(often initial capital letter) of or characteristic of members of the Beat Generation or beatniks.

Verb Phrases

beat about,

to search through; scour: After beating about for several hours, he turned up the missing papers.
Nautical. to tack into the wind.

beat back, to force back; compel to withdraw: to beat back an attacker.

beat down,

to bring into subjection; subdue.
Informal. to persuade (a seller) to lower the price of something: His first price was too high, so we tried to beat him down.

beat off,

to ward off; repulse: We had to beat off clouds of mosquitoes.
Slang: Vulgar. to masturbate.

beat out,

Informal. to defeat; win or be chosen over: to beat out the competition.
Carpentry. to cut (a mortise).
to produce hurriedly, especially by writing or typing: There are three days left to beat out the first draft of the novel.
Baseball. (of a hitter) to make (an infield ground ball or bunt) into a hit: He beat out a weak grounder to third.

beat up,

Also beat up on . to strike repeatedly so as to cause painful injury; thrash: A gang of toughs beat him up on the way home from school. In the third round the champion really began to beat up on the challenger.
British Informal. to find or gather; scare up: I'll beat up some lunch for us while you make out the shopping list.

QUIZZES

QUIZ YOURSELF ON THESE WORDS FROM BROWN GIRL DREAMING!

Visualize yourself passing this quiz on words from Jacqueline Woodson’s exquisite verse novel “Brown Girl Dreaming,” and then take the quiz to prove you can do it! (Because you can.)

Question 1 of 10

What does “barren” mean?

a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides.

Worn down by dullness, tedious repetition.

unproductive; unfruitful

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms for beat

beat all, Informal. 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!

beat a retreat. retreat (def. 12).

beat around / about the bush. bush¹ (def. 16).

beat it, Informal. to depart; go away: He was pestering me, so I told him to beat it.

beat the air / wind, to make repeated futile attempts.

beat the rap. rap¹ (def. 17).

off one's beat, outside of one's routine, general knowledge, or range of experience: He protested that nonobjective art was off his beat.

on the beat, in the correct rhythm or tempo: By the end of the number they were all finally playing on the beat.

Origin of beat

before 900; Middle English beten,Old English bēatan; cognate with Old Norse bauta,Middle Low German bōten,Old High German bōzzan; akin to MIr búalaim I hit, Latin fūstis a stick <*bheud-

SYNONYMS FOR beat

1 belabor, batter, drub, maul, baste, pommel, cudgel, buffet, flog.

12 conquer, subdue, vanquish, overpower.

14 excel, outdo, surpass.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR beat ON THESAURUS.COM

synonym study for beat

1. 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 child. 22. See pulsate.

OTHER WORDS FROM beat

beat·a·ble, adjectiveo·ver·beat, verb, o·ver·beat, o·ver·beat·en or o·ver·beat, o·ver·beat·ing.un·der·beat, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH beat

beat , beet.

Words nearby beat

beastie, beastings, beastly, beast of burden, beast of prey, beat, beat a dead horse, beat all, beat a path to someone's door, beat a retreat, beat around the bush

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for beat

He beat his illness twice, wrote about his battles with the disease, and continued broadcasting even as his health was failing.
Remembering ESPN’s Sly, Cocky, and Cool Anchor Stuart Scott|Stereo Williams|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It went into remission, but it would resurface in 2011; and Scott was able to beat it once again.
Remembering ESPN’s Sly, Cocky, and Cool Anchor Stuart Scott|Stereo Williams|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But underground classes have Persians getting with the beat.
Iran’s Becoming a Footloose Nation as Dance Lessons Spread|IranWire|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It may have been the reason why Goldwater beat Rockefeller by three points, and effectively sewed up the GOP nomination.
The World’s Toughest Political Quiz|Jeff Greenfield|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Despite the scandal, Grimm beat his Democratic opponent by 18 points in November.
2014 Was a Delectably Good Year for Sleaze|Patricia Murphy|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
From the inn yard came the sound of music and the beat of the dancers feet on the hard ground.
The Motor Maids Across the Continent|Katherine Stokes
Then the roof of the ward lifted about an inch, and more wind beat down, and as it beat down, so the roof lifted.
The Backwash of War|Ellen N. La Motte
Beat the yolks of the eggs for 10 minutes with the sugar and lemon rind.
The Allinson Vegetarian Cookery Book|Thomas R. Allinson
MacRae beat him two hours to the trolling fleet at Squitty, a fleet that was growing in numbers.
Poor Man's Rock|Bertrand W. Sinclair
There were voices and the beat of footsteps, and sometimes Hansei heard a strange sound that might be singing or wind moaning.
Child Stories from the Masters|Maud Menefee

British Dictionary definitions for beat

beat

/ (biːt) /

verb beats, beating, beat, beaten or beat

(when intr, often foll by against, on , etc) to strike with or as if with a series of violent blows; dash or pound repeatedly (against)

(tr) to punish by striking; flog

to move or cause to move up and down; flapthe bird beat its wings heavily

(intr) to throb rhythmically; pulsateher heart beat fast

(tr) to make (one's way) by or as if by blowsshe beat her way out of the crowd

(tr sometimes foll by up) cookery to stir or whisk (an ingredient or mixture) vigorously

(tr sometimes foll by out) to shape, make thin, or flatten (a piece of metal) by repeated blows

(tr) music to indicate (time) by the motion of one's hand, baton, etc, or by the action of a metronome

(when tr , sometimes foll by out) to produce (a sound or signal) by or as if by striking a drum

to sound or cause to sound, by or as if by beatingbeat the drums!

to overcome (an opponent) in a contest, battle, etc

(tr ; often foll by back, down, off etc) to drive, push, or thrust

(tr) to arrive or finish before (someone or something); anticipate or forestallthey set off early to beat the rush hour

(tr) to form (a path or track) by repeatedly walking or riding over it

to scour (woodlands, coverts, or undergrowth) so as to rouse game for shooting

(tr) slang to puzzle or baffleit beats me how he can do that

(intr) physics (of sounds or electrical signals) to combine and produce a pulsating sound or signal

(intr) nautical to steer a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

(tr) slang, mainly US to cheat or defraudhe beat his brother out of the inheritance

beat about the bush to avoid the point at issue; prevaricate

beat a retreat to withdraw or depart in haste

beat it slang (often imperative) to go away

beat one's breast See breast (def. 10)

beat someone's brains out slang to kill by knocking severely about the head

beat someone to it informal to reach a place or achieve an objective before someone else

beat the bounds British (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods

can you beat it? or can you beat that? slang an expression of utter amazement or surprise

noun

a stroke or blow

the sound made by a stroke or blow

a regular sound or stroke; throb

an assigned or habitual round or route, as of a policeman or sentry
(as modifier)beat police officers

the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music, usually grouped in twos, threes, or fours

pop or rock music characterized by a heavy rhythmic beat
(as modifier)a beat group

physics the low regular frequency produced by combining two sounds or electrical signals that have similar frequencies

horology the impulse given to the balance wheel by the action of the escapement

prosody the accent, stress, or ictus in a metrical foot

nautical a course that steers a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

the act of scouring for game by beating
the organized scouring of a particular woodland so as to rouse the game in it
the woodland where game is so roused

short for beatnik

fencing a sharp tap with one's blade on an opponent's blade to deflect it

(modifier, often capital) of, characterized by, or relating to the Beat Generationa beat poet; beat philosophy