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beat a retreat



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Idioms and Phrases

Also, beat a hasty retreat . Reverse course or withdraw, usually quickly. For example, I really don't want to run into Jeff—let's beat a retreat . This term originally (1300s) referred to the military practice of sounding drums to call back troops. Today it is used only figuratively, as in the example above.

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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.

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beat a path to someone's doorbeat around the bush