Beat \Beat\, v. t. [imp. Beat; p. p. Beat, Beaten; p. pr.
& vb. n. Beating.]
[OE. beaten, beten, AS. be['a]tan; akin
to Icel. bauta, OHG. b?zan. Cf. 1st Butt, Button.]
1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to
beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat
grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and
sugar; to beat a drum.
Thou shalt beat some of it [spices] very small.
--Ex. xxx. 36.
They did beat the gold into thin plates. --Ex.
xxxix. 3.
2. To punish by blows; to thrash.
3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the
noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of
rousing game.
To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey.
--Prior.
4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind.
A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms.
--Milton.
5. To tread, as a path.
Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way.
--Blackmore.
6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game,
etc.; to vanquish or conquer; to surpass.
He beat them in a bloody battle. --Prescott.
For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that. --M.
Arnold.
7. To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with
out. [Colloq.]
8. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
Why should any one . . . beat his head about the
Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic?
--Locke.
9. (Mil.) To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound
by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley,
a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo.
See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc.
To beat down, to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower
price; to force down. [Colloq.]
To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition.
To beat off, to repel or drive back.
To beat out, to extend by hammering.
To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give
it up. ``Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it
to this day.'' --South.
To beat the dust. (Man.)
(a) To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a
horse.
(b) To perform curvets too precipitately or too low.
To beat the hoof, to walk; to go on foot.
To beat the wing, to flutter; to move with fluttering
agitation.
To beat time, to measure or regulate time in music by the
motion of the hand or foot.
To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to
beat up an enemy's quarters.
Syn: To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump;
baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer;
defeat; vanquish; overcome.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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