Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Beat
Beat
(bēt)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Beat
; p. p.
Beat
, Beaten
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Beating
.] 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 drumThou 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, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to.
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.)
10.
to baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person);
as, it
. beats
me why he would do that11.
to evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment);
as, to
. beat
the rap (be acquitted); to beat
the sales tax by buying out of stateTo 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.
Beat
,Verb.
I.
1.
To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
The men of the city . . .
beat
at the door. Judges. xix. 22.
2.
To move with pulsation or throbbing.
A thousand hearts
beat
happily. Byron.
3.
To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do.
Sees rolling tempests vainly
beat
below. Dryden.
They [winds]
beat
at the crazy casement. Longfellow.
The sun
beat
upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah iv. 8.
Public envy seemeth to
beat
chiefly upon ministers. Bacon.
4.
To be in agitation or doubt.
[Poetic]
To still my
beating
mind. Shakespeare
5.
(Naut.)
To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.
6.
To make a sound when struck;
as, the drums
. beat
7.
(Mil.)
To make a succession of strokes on a drum;
as, the drummers
. beat
to call soldiers to their quarters8.
(Acoustics & Mus.)
To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; – said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.
A beating wind
(Naut.)
, a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress.
– To beat about
, to try to find; to search by various means or ways.
Addison.
– To beat about the bush
, to approach a subject circuitously.
– To beat up and down
(Hunting)
, to run first one way and then another; – said of a stag.
– To beat up for recruits
, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise.
– To beat the rap
, to be acquitted of an accusation; – especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent.
Beat
,Noun.
1.
A stroke; a blow.
He, with a careless
Struck out the mute creation at a heat.
beat
,Struck out the mute creation at a heat.
Dryden.
2.
A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation;
as, a
. beat
of the heart; the beat
of the pulse3.
(Mus.)
(a)
The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit.
(b)
A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.
4.
(Acoustics & Mus.)
A sudden swelling or reënforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See , 8.
Beat
, Verb.
I.
6.
A place of habitual or frequent resort.
7.
A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; – often emphasized by dead;
as, a
; also, dead beat
deadbeat
. [Low]
Beat of drum
(Mil.)
, a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, etc.
– Beat of a watch
, or Beat of a clock
the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals.
Beat
,Adj.
Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted.
[Colloq.]
Quite
beat
, and very much vexed and disappointed. Dickens.
Webster 1828 Edition
Beat
BEAT
,Verb.
T.
1.
To strike repeatedly; to lay on repeated blows, with a stick, with the hand or fist, or with any instrument, and for any cause,just or unjust, or for punishment. Luke 12. Deut.25.2.
To strike an instrument of music; to play on, as a drum.3.
To break, bruise,comminute, or pulverize by beating or pounding, as pepper or spices. Ex.30.4.
To extend by beating, as gold or other malleable substance; or to hammer into any form; to forge. Ex.39.5.
To strike bushes, to shake by beating, or to make a noise to rouse game.6.
To thresh; to force out corn from the husk by blows.7.
To break, mix or agitate by beating; as, to beat an egg with any other thing.8.
To dash or strike, as water; to strike or brush, as wind.9.
To tread, as a path. 10. To overcome in a battle, contest or strife; to vanquish or conquer; as, one beats another at play.
Phrrhus beat the Carthaginians at sea.
11. To harass; to exercise severely; to overlabor; as, to beat the brains about logic.
To beat down, to break, destroy, throw down, by beating or battering, as a wall.
Also, to press down or lay flat, as by treading, by a current of water, by violent wind, &c.
Also, to lower the price by importunity or argument.
Also, to depress or crush; as, to bet down opposition.
Also, to sink or lessen the price or value.
Usury beats down the price of land.
To beat back, to compel to retire or return.
To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition of instruction.
To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy's quarters.
To beat the wing, to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation.
To beat off, to repel or drive back.
To beat the hoof, to walk; to go on foot.
To beat time, to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.
In the manerge, a horse beats the dust, when at each motion he does not take in ground enough with his fore legs; and at curvets, when he does them too precipitately, or too low. He beats upon a walk, when he walks too short.
To beat out, to extend by hammering. In popular use, to be beat out, is to be extremely fatigued; to have the strength exhausted by labor or exertion.
BEAT
,Verb.
I.
1.
To dash with force, as a storm, flood, passion, &c.; as, the tempest beats against the house.2.
To knock at a door. Judges 19. 3. To fluctuate; to be in agitation.
To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways.
To beat upon, to act upon with violence.
Also, to speak frequently; to enforce by repetition.
To beat up for soldiers,is to go about to enlist men into the army.
In seamanship, to beat, is to make progress against the direction of the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.
With hunters, a stag beats up and down, when he runs first one way and then another.
BEAT
,Noun.
1.
A pulsation; as the beat of the pulse.2.
The rise or fall of the hand or foot, in regulating the divisions of time in music.3.
A transient grace-note in music, struck immediately before the note it is intended to ornament.In the military art, the beat of drum, is a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes; as to regulate a march to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack or retreat, &c.
The beat of a watch or clock, is the stroke made by the fangs or pallets of the spindle of the balance, or of the pads in a royal pendulum.