beat a retreat

Idioms  

1. 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.

---

Example Sentences

Quick to beat a retreat when confronted but willing to test new ground when the opportunity arises, Gibson’s Fetchit brilliantly embodies the crazy-as-a-fox interpretation of the character that Power advances.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 27, 2023

Along with outsize earnings-day stock losses for AT&T, U.S. equity benchmarks beat a retreat.

From Reuters • Apr. 21, 2023

The surge has led states and cities across the U.S. to beat a retreat, just weeks after it looked as if the country was going to see a close-to-normal summer.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 2, 2021

They will look, too, at Marshall's seriously unwise decision to move so far into no-man's land without the pace in his legs to beat a retreat.

From BBC • Jun. 14, 2021

"I shall beat a retreat to that hill," said he, "and then, being out of sight, quick step."

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Reade, Charles