beater

American  

[bee-ter] / ˈbi tər /

noun

1. a person or thing that beats.

2. an implement or device for beating something (usually used in combination).

   the two beaters on an electric mixer;

   an old-fashioned rug beater that loosens dirt with every forceful whack.

3. Slang: Offensive. wifebeater.

4. Informal. an old vehicle that is in poor condition.

   I drive a beater that I bought for $2,000.

5. Hunting. a person who rouses or drives game from cover.

   The beater flushed a covey of grouse.

6. Papermaking. a machine for beating half-stuff to pulp by separating and shortening the fibers to produce a gelatinous mass.

7. Textiles. reed.

8. Newfoundland. a young seal, usually a month to six weeks old, having completely or almost completely shed its initial white fur.

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beater British  

/ ˈbiːtə /

noun

1. a person who beats or hammers

   a panel beater

2. an instrument or device used for beating

   a carpet beater

3. a person who rouses wild game from woodland, undergrowth, etc

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Etymology

Origin of beater

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English beter, better; see origin at beat, -er ¹; the seals in beater def. 8 are so named for their beating of the water with their flippers as they learn to swim

Example Sentences

Its first board, the Beater, could ride like a surfboard or be used as a bodyboard or skimboard after taking off the fins.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 28, 2022

His Honour Judge Philip Satman told Beater he was guilty of a "profound and grave breach of trust", adding that it was "noteworthy that some of the offences took place within the vicarage".

From BBC • Aug. 23, 2021

Let’s go to our official March Madness Buzzer Beater Scale, in which points are awarded for difficulty, stakes, timing, the announcer’s call, team reaction, and overall Cinderella-ness.

From Slate • Mar. 15, 2018

It is, for example, rewarding to study side by side the fancy-vs.-plain responses to Cubism in Gerald Murphy’s 1929 “Wasp and Pear” and Davis’s 1930 “Egg Beater V.”

From New York Times • Aug. 22, 2013

“Oh yeah . “I don’t know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps,” said Sirius, still pacing.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling