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beat a retreat

Idioms

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Journalists who were already staking out the area around Burgenstock under tight security beat a retreat, knowing that the talks could be on again at any moment.

From Barron's • Jun. 19, 2026

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

I was a cub reporter at the Kansas City Star, and a colleague dragged me to one of the chain’s metro locations, back before White Castle beat a retreat from the K.C. market.

From Washington Post • Jul. 6, 2021

Mr. Bearington paid the bill the next day and the whole posse beat a retreat across the Canadian border.

From The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury by Coolidge, Asenath Carver

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023