beat the bushes for

Idioms  

1. Look everywhere for something or someone, as in I've been beating the bushes for a substitute but haven't had any luck. This term originally alluded to hunting, when beaters were hired to flush birds out of the brush. [1400s] Also see beat around the bush.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beat the bushes for

“We beat the bushes for them,” Belichick said.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2018

Roaming hither and yon, they beat the bushes for votes, relying on the most primitive forms of political expression: the fist-pounding stump speech and the handshake.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2012

"We've got to go out and beat the bushes for meat," cried Clint Anderson.

From Time Magazine Archive

Colleges that cannot afford to beat the bushes for hordes of burly ballplayers can hold their own if they can sign up a small squad of good men.

From Time Magazine Archive

We beat the bushes for the great, the kings that should come after Agamemnon.

From Behind the Mirrors The Psychology of Disintegration at Washington by Clinton W. (Clinton Wallace) Gilbert