beater

[ bee-ter ]

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.

  1. Slang: Offensive. wifebeater (def. 2).

  2. Informal. an old vehicle that is in poor condition: I drive a beater that I bought for $2,000.

  3. Hunting. a person who rouses or drives game from cover: The beater flushed a covey of grouse.

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

  5. Textiles. reed (def. 6).

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

Origin of beater

1
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English beter, better; see origin at beat, -er1; the seals in def. 8 are so named for their beating of the water with their flippers as they learn to swim

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use beater in a sentence

  • The beaters cried out again close by, but all were silenced by the roar of the approaching tiger.

    Kari the Elephant | Dhan Gopal Mukerji
  • Now we could hear the cry o£ the beaters in the distance coming nearer and nearer.

    Kari the Elephant | Dhan Gopal Mukerji
  • He whistled as he walked; his shooting recovered; and by the time the dark fell, keepers and beaters were once more his friends.

    Marriage la mode | Mrs. Humphry Ward
  • Are there not men above the class of wife-beaters who indulge in fault-finding, "nagging," and other forms of tongue-castigation?

British Dictionary definitions for beater

beater

/ (ˈbiːtə) /


noun
  1. a person who beats or hammers: a panel beater

  2. an instrument or device used for beating: a carpet beater

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012