str. & wk. Pa. t. beat. Pa. pple. beaten, beat. Forms: Inf. 1–2 béat-an, 2–3 beat-en, 3–5 bet-en, 4 beet-e(n, 4–6 bete, 5 beite, 5–6 bette, 5–7 beate, 7– beat. Pa. t. 1–4 béot, 3 biet, 3–7 bet, 4–6 bett, bete, 4 but, 4–7 bette, 5 bote, 6– beat, 7 Sc. bet; also 3–6 beted, beated. Pa. pple. 1–2 béaten, 3 bætenn, i-bet, i-beaten, 4 y-bete, i-bete, 4–6 beten, 4–7 bett(e, 5–6 bete, 5–7 bet, 6 betten, beate, y-bet, 7 beated, 6–9 beat, 5– beaten. [Com. Teut.; OE. béatan, str. vb., identical with ON. bauta, OHG. bôȥan, MHG. bôȥen:—OTeut. *baut-an, not found in Gothic. The OE. pa. t. béot (repr. earlier reduplicated *bebôt, *baibaut), duly became in ME. bēt, bete (with close ē, as distinct from the open e or ę of the present); its mod. form would be beet, but this became obs. in 16th c. The actual pa. t. beat is prob. shortened from the ME. weak form beted, in 16th c. beated. The pa. pple. beat, still occasional for beaten in all senses, but chiefly used in sense 10, and in phrases like ‘dead-beat’ belonging to that sense, may also be from beated, but comes naturally enough from ME. bet, shortened from bete, beten, found already in 13th c., and having the open e of the present.]
I. The simple action: to strike repeatedly.
1. trans. To strike with repeated blows. To beat the breast: i.e., in sign of sorrow.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. lx. 1. Nu me caru beateð heard æt heortan.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 227. Bet þi-self on þe Breste.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lii. (1495), 634. The tree ebenus tornyth in to stoon if it is longe beten.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., II. ii. 3. Why do weepe so oft? And beate your Brest?
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 98, ¶ 13. At what hour they may beat the door of an acquaintance.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., I. xi. The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear.
1799. G. Smith, Laborat., I. 405. Then wring it out and beat it.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxvi. 13. He plays with threads … he beats his chair.
b. With extension, expressing the result of the process: To beat to powder, beat black and blue, etc.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. v. 115. Mistris Ford (good heart) is beaten blacke and blew.
1755. Smollett, Quix. (1803), 215. My poor father, whom two wicked men are now beating to a jelly.
1807. Milner, Martyrs, I. § 2. 49. He was … beat to death with cudgels.
c. To beat the air, the wind, (the water obs.): to fight to no purpose or against no opposition; in reference to 1 Cor. ix. 26. Sometimes referring to the ordeal by battle, when one of the parties made default, in which case the other is said to have gained his cause by dealing so many blows upon the air.
c. 1375. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. 1871, II. 258. Not as betinge þe eir.
1579. Tomson, Calvin Serm. Tim., 988/2. As we say in a common prouerbe, to beate the water, Saint Paule saith to beate the ayre.
1611. Bible, 1 Cor. ix. 26. So fight I, not as one that beateth the ayre.
1815. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5), III. 488/2. If either of the combatants did not appear in the field the other was to beat the wind, or to make so many flourishes with his weapon.
1884. Froude, Carlyle, II. xviii. 49. He cared little about contemporary politics, which he regarded as beating the wind.
2. intr. To strike or deliver repeated blows (on, at anything); † to knock (at a door). To beat away or on: to go on beating.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 18. Beateð on ower breoste.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 863. Betynge with his helis on the grounde.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1515. On the dragon fast he bett.
c. 1450. Gologras & Gaw., liv. (1839), 158. Thai bet on sa bryimly, thai … Bristis birneis with brandis.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 576. Thir bernis bald ilkone on vther bet.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 293. O Lear, Lear, Lear! Beate at this gate, that let thy Folly in.
1611. Bible, Judg. xix. 22. Certaine sonnes of Belial … beat at the doore.
b. Said of hares and rabbits in rutting-time.
1610. Gwillim, Heraldry, III. xiv. (1660), 166. You shall say a Hare and Conie Beateth or Tappeth.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, III. ix. 338. Here the bellowing Harts are said to harbour … beating Hares to forme.
1721. in Bailey.
3. trans. Said of the action of the feet upon the ground in walking or running; hence, To beat the streets: to walk up and down. To beat a path or track: to tread it hard or bare by frequent passage; hence, to open up or prepare a way. Often fig.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 4522. Se mearh burhstede béateð.
c. 1375. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 166. Bete stretis vp & doun & synge & pleie as mynystrelis.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 249. And as enamored wights are wont, He gan the streetes to beate.
1590. Nashe, in Greene’s Arcadia, Pref. (1616), 8. Master Gascoigne … who first beate the path to that perfection.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 11. That path they take that beaten seemed most bare.
1637. W. Austin, in Spurgeon, Treas. David, I. 235. Jesus Christ … who hath beaten the way for us.
1693. W. Freke, Sel. Ess., 18. Our Ancestors haue beat the Track before us.
1718. Pope, Iliad, II. 184. Their trampling feet Beat the loose sands.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., iv. 521. The paths she trod; Various, extensive, beaten but by few.
1875. Chr. Rossetti, Goblin Market, 193. This beaten way thou beatest, I fear is Hell’s own track.
4. To strike (a man or beast) with blows of the hand or any weapon so as to give pain; to inflict blows on, to thrash; to punish by beating.
971. Blickl. Hom., 23. Hie hine … mid heora fystum béotan.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 121. Summe … hine on þet neb mid heore hondan stercliche beoten.
c. 1220. St. Marher., 5. Beateð hire bare bodi wið bittre besmen.
c. 1280. Fall & Pass., 61, in E. E. P. (1862), 14. He was ibund to a tre . an ibet wiþ scurges kene.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15827. Wit þair bastons bete þai him.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, L vi b. [She] … may wel bete herself with her owne staf.
1501. Plumpton Corr., 157. All ther servant[s] beated me one after another.
c. 1532. Ld. Berners, Huon, 433. The Gryffen bet hym merueylusly with her beke, wyngis, and talouns.
1556. Chron. Grey Friars (1852), 78. And then was … bettyn at the same pyller.
1557. Primer, C iiij. Thy heavenly sonne … was cruellye bette and scourged.
1609. Bible (Douay), Num. xxii. 27. Who being angrie, bette her sides with a staffe.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1664), 5. Beaten with their own rods.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 47. They were beat … and turned out of doors.
1856. Ruskin, King Gold. Riv., i. (ed. 3), 8. My brothers would beat me to death, Sir.
† b. intr. To exchange blows, fight. (Fr. sebattre.)
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., IV. xxi. (1597), 106. They spur their Horses, breake their Speares, and beat at Barriars long.
† 5. trans. To strike with heavy blows or discharges of missiles; to batter, bombard. Obs. See also 17, 36, 37.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XXXII. 12664. Þe buernes on þe bonk bet hym with stonys.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., lxii. Beated and chopt with tand antiquitie.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 702. Upon this hill, Rogendorff to beat the Castle … planted his batterie.
1664. Floddan F., III. 22. With Bombard shot the walls he bet.
† b. intr. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XXIV. 9669. Beiton þurgh basnettes with the brem egge.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., xvii. (1821), 392. And caused the Artillery to beate upon that place.
6. trans. Of water, waves, wind, weather, the sun’s rays, and other physical agents: To dash against, impinge on, strike violently, assail. (poetical.) Cf. weather-beaten.
a. 1000. Riddles (Grein), iii. 6. Stréamas staðu béatað.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Aug., 47. The Sunnebeame so sore doth vs beate.
1664. Floddan F., III. 25. Weary men with weather bet.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Eclog., IX. 59. Let the wild Surges vainly beat the Shoar.
1814. Wordsw., White Doe, VII. 10. Some island which the wild waves beat.
1830. Tennyson, To J. S., i. The wind that beats the mountain.
b. intr. with on, upon, against; also absol.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth. Metr., vi. 15. Sǽ … on staðu béateþ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1844. Þe wawis bett on euer-ilk a side.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VIII. viii. 161. The fyreflaucht beting from the lyft on far.
1530. Palsgr., 452/2. The rayne bette … in my face.
1611. Bible, Mark iv. 37. The waues beat into the ship. Ibid., Jonah iv. 8. The Sunne beat vpon the head of Ionah.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. 53. Bristol Channel beats upon it on the North.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, I. 352. We heard the rain beat hard.
1859. Tennyson, Idylls, Ded. 26. That fierce light which beats upon a throne.
† c. (said of a river): To meet, join. Obs.
1577. Harrison, Descr. Brit., in Holinshed, xii. 55. Two rilles … joining in Wadeleie parke they beat upon the Test, not verie far from Nurseling.
7. trans. Said of the impact of sounds. arch. or Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xliii. 18. The vois of his thunder schal beten the erthe.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 1020. Not so much as the wordes or voices are heard, onely the sound beateth the eares.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. iii. 92. With what loud applause Did’st thou beate heauen with blessing Bullingbrooke?
1677. Gilpin, Dæmonol. (1867), 136. Yet are their ears so beaten with the objection of sects and schisms.
† 8. trans. To labor or ‘hammer’ at (a subject), to thresh out; to debate, discuss; reason about, argue. Obs.
1470. Sir J. Paston, in Lett., 637, II. 393. I have betyn the mater ffor yow, your onknowleche, as I tolde hyr.
1542. Becon, Pathw. Prayer, Wks. (1843), 145. When he hath once thoroughly debated and beaten with himself his own misery.
1546. St. Papers Hen. VIII., XI. 197. Prayed him, in the beatinge of the matur with the Quene, to consyder and waye all partes.
1636. Healey, Epictetus’ Man., 160. Beate this discourse of mine over and over, untill you have gotten the habite thereof.
1659. Instruct. Oratory, 2. Diligently beating and examining … whatever may have relation to your subject.
† 9. intr. To insist with iteration on or upon. Obs.
1579. Tomson, Calvin Serm. Tim., 374/2. When we beate vpon these promises to purpose.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. iv. § 3. Their earnestness, who beat more and more upon these last alleged words.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus iii. 1. Often to inculcate and beat vpon this point.
1633. Sanderson, Serm., II. 29. The holy Apostles … beat so much … upon the argument of Christian subjection.
10. trans. To overcome, to conquer in battle, or (in mod. use) in any other contest, at doing anything; to show oneself superior to, to surpass, excel. (A natural extension of 4: cf. similar use of thrash, drub, lick, etc. The earlier examples show the transition. In the colloquial to beat one hollow, to sticks, to ribands, etc., there is a play upon other senses of beat.)
[c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 23. The Scotts and the Pyctes, so bette and oppressyd this Lond.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., lxii. 46. The whyte dragon strongly fought with the reed dragon and bote hym euel and hym ouercome.]
1611. Bible, 2 Kings xiii. 25. Three times did Ioash beat [1382 Wyclif smoot; Coverd. did smyte] him, and recouered the cities of Israel.
1634. Malory’s Arthur (1816), I. 424. They came home all five well beaten.
1664. Pepys, Diary, 22 Dec. I hear fully the news of our being beaten to dirt at Guinny by De Ruyter.
1704. Hymn to Vict., lxvi. 12. Never was braver Army better Beat.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 180, ¶ 13. He had beat the Romans in a pitched battle.
1778. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 213. We were beat about the light-house.
c. 1800. Southey, Devil’s Walk, xxii. This Scotch phenomenon, I trow, Beats Alexander hollow.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xi. 92. Favourite had been beat … by Sawney.
1812. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 177. How many children have you? You beat me, I expect, in that count.
1818. Moore, Fudge Fam. Paris, iii. The old Café Hardy … Beats the field at a dejeuner à la fourchette.
1822. Byron, Juan, VII. xlii. Few are slow In thinking that their enemy is beat (Or beaten, if you insist on grammar).
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), II. xii. 440. The ministers were constantly beaten in the house of lords.
1847. Barham, Ingol. Leg. (1877), 55. Many ladies … were beat all to sticks by the lovely Odille.
1871. Whyte-Melville, Kate Cov., 1. I rode a race against Bob Dashwood … and beat him all to ribands.
1872. Freeman, Gen. Sketch, xiv. § 11 (1874), 295. He first beat the Danes, and then the Russians.
1879. Lowell, Poet. Wks., 418. And there’s where I shall beat them hollow.
b. Of a difficulty: To master (a person), to defy all his efforts to conquer it.
c. 1810. in Smiles, Engineers (1862), III. 51. The engineers hereabouts are all bet; and if you really succeed in accomplishing what they cannot do, [etc.].
1882. J. Payn, Cash Only, II. 316. ‘This beats me altogether,’ mused the lawyer.
c. absol. To gain the victory.
1770. J. Love, Cricket, 24. Jove, and all-compelling Fate, In their high Will determin’d Kent should beat.
Mod. Which side beat?
† 11. trans. To strike together the eyelids (= BAT), or the teeth; also intr. either of a person, or his teeth (= chatter). Obs.
c. 1360. Wyclif, De Dot. Eccl., 96. [Then] shal antecrist grenne … & bete to gedre wiþ hise teeþ.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 16. Ever beting her eyelyddes togedre.
1597. R. Johnson, Sev. Champ., I. xvi. (1867), 127. Who, at the first sight of St. George, beat his teeth so mightily together, that they rang like the stroke of an anvil.
1617. Greene, Alcida, Wks. (Gros.), IX. 17. My teeth for cold beating in my head.
12. trans. To flap (the wings) with force so that they beat the air or the sides; also intr. (absol.)
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 38. The god of loue anon Beteth hise wynges and farewel he is gon.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. i. 199. These Kites, That bait and beate, and will not be obedient.
1640. W. Hodgson, Div. Cosmogr., 101. The Eagle … beating her wings on high.
1676. Dryden, State Innoc., IV. (1684), 22 (J.).
| Thrice have I beat the Wing, and rid with Night, | |
| About the World, behind the Globe of Light. |
13. intr. Of the heart: To strike against the breast; hence, to throb, palpitate, pulsate. (Said also of the pulse, etc., and fig. of passions.)
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 169. And sore sihte, and his heorte biet.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 570. And felte eke, that my hert bete.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 119. We may fele our pulses bete quikly.
1530. Palsgr., 452/2. Fele howe my vaynes beate.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 19 Oct. Her pulse beats fast.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 37. We have observ’d her [a Black Snail’s] Heart to beat fairly for a quarter of an hour after her dissection.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 299. Such Rage of Honey in their Bosom beats.
1785. Mrs. A. Adams, Lett. (1848), 260. How the pulse of the ministry beats, time will unfold.
1837. Penny Mag., VI. 212. My heart beat with such transports of joy.
1845. Longfellow, Belfrey Bruges, V. I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower.
c. 1863. Jean Ingelow, Four Bridg., Wks. (1874), 242. Beat high, beat low, wild heart so deeply stirred.
14. intr. Hence, applied to other pulsating actions and their sounds. a. Said of a watch, etc. b. Music. To sound in pulsations; said of the undulating sound produced by two notes of slightly differing pitch sounding at the same time; see BEAT sb.1 8. c. trans. To beat seconds, etc. See 33.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb., II. iv. 152. Whose voyce (if you lay your eare to the Hiue) you shall distinguish … louder and greater, and beating with a more solemne measure.
1737. M. Green, Poems (1796), 71. There let the serious death-watch beat.
1801. Cooper, in Phil. Trans., XCI. 442. The trial with the watch was again resorted to; and she could hear it beat.
1819. Rees, Encycl., s.v. Beats, And like the human pulse in a fever, the more dissonant are the sounds, the quicker they beat.
1883. Sir E. Beckett, Clocks, etc., 295. In a pocket lever watch the balance generally beats in 2-9ths of a second.
II. Of the action and its effects: to do something by repeated striking.
* To affect the place of by beating.
15. trans. To force or impel (a thing) by striking, hammering, etc. With the direction expressed, as to beat down, out of, or into (a position or thing).
1607. Shaks., Timon, III. vi. 123. He gaue me a Iewell th’ other day, and now hee has beate it out of my hat.
1660. Boyle, Seraph. Love, § 16 (1700), 95. When we beat the Dust out of a Suit.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (Rtldg.), 18/2. The blow … beat the breath, as it were, quite out of my body.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 238. The stone … was then lowered … and beat down with a heavy wooden maul.
b. fig. To beat (a thing) into one’s head, mind, etc.
1533. More, Answ. Poyson. Bk., Wks. 1099/2. In suche effectuall wise inculked it, and as who should say, bette into theyr heades.
1556. Veron, Godly Sayings (1846), 18. They must beat into ye heartes of the people … studye of concord and true innocencie.
1571. Ascham, Scholem. (1863), 29. Fond scholemasters, by feare, do beate into them the hatred of learning.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 74. You may beat the Latine into their heads.
1848. L. Hunt, Jar Honey, Pref. 15. The classics were beaten into their heads at school.
18. To drive by blows (a person, etc.) away, off, from, to, into, out of (a place or thing). In beat out of the field, there is perhaps some mixture of sense with 10.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., C. 248. A wyld walterande whal … Þat watz beten fro þe abyme.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1150. They were … not awey with stormes bete.
1570. Ascham, Scholem. (1815), 205. In beating, and driving away the best natures from learning.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. i. 262. I shall beat you to your Trent. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., I. ii. 33. He’s beat from his best ward.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 132. Seeing the … Sultan … beaten out of his kingdome by the Tartar.
1738. Wesley, Wks. (1872), I. 91. I was beat out of this retreat too.
1885. N. Pocock, in Book Lore, 28 July. Their version of the Psalms was ignominiously beaten out of the field.
17. To break, crush, smash, or overthrow by hard knocks; to batter. Cf. 5.
1570. T. Wilson, Demosthenes, 68. Which places he hath so cruelly overthroune and bet to the ground.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 265. Part of the wals we have beaten even with the ground.
1611. Bible, Micah iv. 13. Thou shalt beat in pieces many people.
1798. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., III. 2. The man who may have his Ship beat to pieces.
† 18. To beat the price, the market, the bargain: to endeavor to bring down the price, to chaffer for the lowest terms; to cheapen; = ABATE, or BATE. Now only in beat down: see 36 d.
1592. Greene, Art Conny Catch., II. 6. Hee bet the price of him, bargained, and bought him.
1630. Lord, Banians, 84. The broaker that beateth the price with him that selleth.
1632. Quarles, Div. Fanc., I. lxix. (1660), 29. How loth was righteous Abraham to cease, To Beat the price of lustful Sodoms peace!
1640. W. Habington, Hist. Edw. IV., 135. To beate the bargaine of peace to a lower rate.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., xviii. § 3 (1669), 76. How low did Abraham beat the Market for Sodoms preservation?
1667. Pepys, Diary (1879), IV. 467. With a little beating the bargain, we came to a perfect agreement.
1785. C. Burney, in Parr’s Wks., VII. 398. I have been beating the market for them.
19. Naut. (intr.) To strive against contrary winds or currents at sea; to make way in any direction against the wind. To beat about: to tack against the wind. [Cf. nautical use of Icel. beita to bait: some conjecture that beat here represents a lost *bait.]
1677. Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 1. We must lye beating at Sea while the Dutch are at Anchor.
1687. Randolph, Archipel., 99. An English ship called the President … had been beating (i. e. striving against the wind) above 6 weeks in the channel.
1748. Anson, Voy., I. x. 102. The time of our beating round Cape Horn.
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 552. Those who still beat about in the boisterous seas of life.
1819. Merc. Mar. Mag. (1860), VII. 291. They could not beat to the anchorage.
1837. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1871), I. 75. The hull of a small schooner came beating down towards us.
1839. Marryat, Phant. Ship, ix. They beat against light and baffling winds.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, i. 1. We … hove up our anchor, and began beating down the bay. Ibid., xxiii. 69. The wind drew ahead, and we had to beat up the coast.
1841. Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), III. 57. The transports … should beat in as near as possible to the shore.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xlvii. (1856), 431. Beating hard to windward.
1858. Merc. Mar. Mag., V. 123. A ship has no chance to beat off.
b. esp. To beat up against the wind.
1720. Lond. Gaz., No. 5827/1. He beat up to Windward.
1784. King, Voy. (1790), V. 1712. We remained several days beating up, but in vain, to regain our former birth.
a. 1848. Marryat, Pirate, xiii. From Carthagena, probably, beating up.
c. trans. said of the ship beating the sea.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XX. 82. The toss’d navies beat the heaving main.
1758. J. Blake, Plan Mar. Syst., 58. Others beat the Channel with great danger, rather than put into a port.
d. trans. said of the mariners beating the ship up or to windward.
1839. Sat. Mag., 18 May, 192/1. We might continue to beat the ship up. Ibid., 192/2. We … kept beating the ship to windward.
20. Venery. (intr.) a. To run hither and thither in attempting to escape. b. To take to the water, and go up the stream; also trans. To beat the stream, a brook, etc.
c. 1470. Hors, Shepe, & G. (1822), 31. A herte, yf he be chasid, he wil desire to haue a ryuer. As sone as he taketh the Riuer, he soileth … yf he take agayn the streme he beteth or els he beketh.
1575. Turberv., Venerie, 241. The Otter … is sayde to beate the Streame.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Hunting, The buck will beat a brook, but seldom a great river, as the hart.
1815. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5), III. 489/1. Beating, with hunters, a term used of a stag, which runs first one way and then another. It is then said to beat up and down.
** To affect the state or condition of by beating.
21. trans. To work metal or other malleable material by frequent striking; to hammer. † a. To inlay metal, to enchase, or emboss (obs.). b. To shape by beating, to forge, to flatten or expand superficially by beating; also with out. † c. To coin (money). Also fig.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 121. His pynoun Of gold … in which ther was i-bete The Minatour.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. ix. His armes … Branded or bete vpon his coote armure.
1483. Churchw. Accts. St. Mary H. Lond. (Nichols, 1797), 96. For betyng and steynynge of the same pinons, 6d.
1611. Bible, Isa. ii. 4. They shall beate [1382 Wyclif bete togidere, 1388 welle togider] their swords into plow-shares.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. VIII. vi. § 1. 611. Prerogatiues belonging to a Monarch … To beat Monie.
1640. Hodgson, Div. Cosmogr., 71. Beating out chains and nets … so thin that the eye could not see them.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Gold Leaf, An ounce may be beaten into sixteen hundred leaves each three inches square.
1815. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5), III. 487/2. To forge and hammer; in which sense smiths and farriers say, to beat iron.
1821. Craig, Lect. Drawing, vii. 372. An anvil, a hammer … to beat out and repair any part of the work that may seem to be ill done.
1884. Church, Bacon, ix. 220. He … beat out his thoughts into shape in talking.
b. To become by being beaten out.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 219. One particle of ore beats out such leaf!
22. To make into a powder, or paste, by repeated blows; to pound, pulverize. Generally with a complemental word or phrase.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., XI. 414. Bete all this smal, and sarce it smothe atte alle.
1535. Coverdale, Num. xi. 7. The people … gathered it … and beate it in mortars.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farme, 235. Sowen with fine sand well bet.
a. 1618. W. Bradshaw, in Spurgeon, Treas. David, Ps. xc. 3. Thou beatest him to dust again.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1772. The bark of the pine-tree, beat into a mass resembling hemp.
1815. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5), III. 487/2. We say, to beat drugs, to beat pepper, to beat spices; that is to say, to pulverize them.
1871. Ruskin, Fors Clav., III. 2. Pick the meat clean off and beat it in a marble mortar.
23. To mix (liquids) by beating with a stick or other instrument; to make into a batter; to switch or whip (an egg, etc.). Also with up.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C vj a. Take yolkys of egges rawe and whan they be wele beton to geder.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Formul., U iij. The whytes of egges, and oyle of roses bet togyther.
1664. Crt. & Kitch. J. Cromwell, 104. Take twenty Eggs, beat them in a dish with some salt.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 237. The mortar … was prepared for use by being beat in a very strong wooden bucket.
c. 1813. W. Pybus, Ladies’ Rec. Bk., 26. Beat well up together equal quantities of honey and common water.
1882. Mrs. Reeve, Cookery & Housek., 320. Take three or more eggs … beat yolks and whites separately.
24. techn., expressing various operations in the arts; as in Printing, to ink the forms with beaters; in Bookbinding, Paper-making, Flax-dressing, etc.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Beating flax or hemp is an operation in the dressing of these matters, contrived to render them more soft and pliant. Beating among bookbinders denotes the knocking a book in quires on a block with a hammer, after folding, and before binding or stitching. Beating in the paper-works, signifies the beating of paper on a stone with a heavy hammer with a large, smooth head, and short handle, in order to render it more smooth, and uniform, and fit for writing.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 524. All pressmen do not beat alike. Ibid. The great art in beating is to preserve uniformity of colour.
25. To strike so as to cause appendages to come off. To beat a carpet, so as to rid it of dust. To beat a tree, so as to cause its fruit to fall.
1611. Bible, Deut. xxiv. 20. When thou beatest thine olive trees, thou shalt not go over the boughs again.
1872. Ruskin, Fors Clav., II. 16. From a distance it sounds just like beating carpets.
26. To strike (water, bushes, or cover of any kind) in order to rouse or drive game; to scour or range over (a wood, etc.) in hunting. To beat the bush is also fig. as in c.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 119. Many a man doth bete the bow, Another man hath the brydde.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, D j a. Cast yowre sparehawke in to a tre and beete the bushes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 141. Whiche … hath … betten the busshe that you may catche the byrde.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., 19 viii. § 1 (1669), 502/2. How shall we get them to come into it? Truly, never, except we first beat the River.
a. 1667. Wither, I loved a Lass. ’Twas I that beat the bush, The birds to others flew.
1707. Refl. Ridicule (1717), II. 183. [They] can only beat the Bush, and never tend to the Head of the Business.
1741. Compl. Fam. Piece, II. i. 289. The Huntsman … must … beat the Outside of the Springs or Thickets.
1772. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. Beating the thicket for a hare.
1814. Scott, Wav., Pref. App. (1842), 30. The cover being now thoroughly beat by the attendants.
1872. Baker, Nile Tribut., xvii. 290. I took a few men to beat the jungle.
fig. 1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 9. Together let us beat this ample field.
1790. R. Cumberland, West Indian, II. 21. He … has been beating the town over to raise a little money.
1861. Sala, Tw. round Clock, One A.M. ¶ 5. When the shadowy hero of the ‘Virginians’ was beating the town with my Lords Castlewood and March.
b. intr. or absol. Also fig. esp. with about. To beat over the old ground: to discuss topics already treated of.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 73, ¶ 8. Some [dogs] beat for the Game, some hunt it.
1711. Budgell, Spect., No. 116, ¶ 5. We came upon a large Heath, and the Sportsmen began to beat.
1828. Landor, Imag. Conv. (1846), 470. The light dog beats over most ground.
1865. Times, 2 Jan. They both saw a man beating towards the place where the net was fixed.
1878. H. Smart, Play or Pay, vii. 149. What do you expect us to do—-beat, or carry cartridges?
fig. 1723. Guardian (1756), I. 312. Beasts of prey, who walk our streets in broad day-light, beating about from coffee-house to coffee-house. Ibid., II. 83. I am always beating about in my thoughts for something that may turn to the benefit of my dear country.
1738. Pope, Epil. Sat., II. 102. To find an honest man I beat about.
1792. Mary Wollstonecr., Rights Wom., v. 225. I do not mean to allude to all the writers who have written on the subject of female manners—it would, in fact, be only beating over the old ground.
c. To beat about the bush: lit., as in 12; fig. To engage in preliminary operations, esp. to approach a matter in a cautious or roundabout way.
1572. Gascoigne, Wks. (1587), 71. He bet about the bush, whyles other caught the birds.
1687. T. Brown, in Dk. Buckhm.’s Wks. (1705), II. 115. He … often beat about the Bush, to start a Convert in him.
1798. Mar. Edgeworth, Pract. Educ. (1822), I. 268. This ludicrous and perverse method of beating about the bush.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., vii. 259. After some hours spent in beating about the bush.
1884. Punch, 29 Nov., 256/2. Obliged to be off: Excuse me … But no good beating about the bush.
27. fig. With up in many constructions, as to beat up for recruits, to beat up the town for recruits, to beat up recruits, and ellipt. to beat up.
1696. Brookhouse, Temple Open., 21. Beating up for Voluntiers, by a New Predication.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 261, ¶ 1. A Captain of Dragoons … beating up for Recruits in those Parts.
1749. J. Ray, Hist. Rebellion, 168. They also endeavoured to levy Men here, beat up publickly for that Purpose, but with very little Success.
1794. Southey, Bot. Bay Eclog., ii. Wks. II. 78. A sergeant to the fair recruiting came … to beat up for game.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., III. v. (1849), 171. He tarried … to beat up recruits for his colony.
1824. Trevelyan, in Life Macaulay (1876), I. iii. 146. Macaulay beat up the Inns of Court for recruits.
1879. Lowell, Poet. Wks., 418. If a poet Beat up for themes, his verse will show it.
1885. Manch. Exam., 8 July, 5/3. Any effort to beat up pecuniary help outside the ranks.
28. To beat up the quarters of: to arouse, disturb; colloq. to visit unceremoniously.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, I. I. 3. Now beating up one quarter, now alarming another. Ibid., I. II. 63. An opportunity to beat up a Quarter of twelve hundred Light Horse.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, II. 179. To … travel round the Country, and beat up their Friends Quarters all the Way.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., II. xxix. 151. His quarters were every moment beaten up by the activity of the French Generals.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xv. (1865), 119. To beat up the quarters of some of our less known relations.
29. To beat the brains, head, etc.: to think persistently and laboriously. Cf. CUDGEL v.
1579. Tomson, Calvin Serm. Tim., 457/2. Yet do the Papistes, but beate the water, when they stand & beate their heads only about ceremonies.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Massacre Paris, I. i. Guise … beats his brains to catch us in his trap.
1677. Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 108. I have beat my Noddle a good while, considering of the reasons.
1686. W. de Britaine, Hum. Prud., § 1. Never … Beat your Brain about the Proportion between the Cylinder and the Sphere.
† b. intr. predicated of the brain, etc. Obs.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. i. 182. This … matter in his heart; Whereon his Brains still beating, puts him thus From fashion of himselfe.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. xliv. (1840), 111. A lawyer’s brains will beat to purpose when his own preferment is the fee.
30. To beat a drum, etc.: to strike it so as to produce rhythmical sound. (Formerly with up.)
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks, D. (1621), 1381. Beating up his drummes in every quarter.
1647. May, Hist. Parl., II. v. 92. Drums were beat up in London … for Souldiers to be sent to Hull.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 789. E’er hollow Drums were beat.
1832. Hone, Year Bk., 1294. Beating a drum, and blowing the hautboy.
b. To beat an air, a tattoo, a signal, and hence ellipt., a charge, a parley, a retreat, etc., on the drum. Also fig. To beat a retreat: to retreat.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 4221/2. The Enemy beat a Parley.
1765. Falconer, Demagogue, 409. He bids enraged sedition beat the charge.
1841. Thackeray, Ballads, Chron. Drum, I. 21. At midnight I beat the tattoo.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 680. A parley was beaten.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., III. iv. 74. With the help of his pipe [he] debated with himself the question of beating a retreat.
c. intr. and absol.
1841. Thackeray, Chron. Drum, 1879, Wks. XXI. 6. He … will never more beat on the drum.
1860. All Y. Round, 403. The captain ordered the drummer … to beat to quarters.
31. (Predicated of a drum or other instrument itself): a. intr. = To be beaten, to sound when beaten.
1656. Rec. New Haven Col. (1858), 603. The second Drum hath left beating.
1723. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 137. I was glad to hear the drums beat for soldiers.
1749. J. Ray, Hist. Rebellion, 164. The Drums beat to Arms, which put the Inhabitants in the utmost Confusion.
1808. Campbell, Hohenlinden. But Linden saw another sight When the drums beat at dead of night.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xxi. Every brass basin betwixt the Bar and Paul’s beating before you.
1851. Longf., Wks. (Rtldg.), 57. And the muffled drum should beat To the tread of mournful feet.
1871. L. Morris, Songs Two W., 167. The mad chimes were beating like surf in the air.
1882. Rossetti, White Ship, in Ball. & Sonn., 85. High do the bells of Rouen beat.
b. trans. with the sound or signal as obj.: To express by its sound when beaten.
1636. Massinger, Bashf. Lov., IV. iii. Nor fife nor drum beat up a charge.
1672. T. Venn, Mil. & Mar. Discipl., xxii. b 169. Before the Drum beates a march.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xxi. With all the brass basins of the ward beating the march to Bridewell before me.
1841. Thackeray, Chron. Drum, II. 4. My drum beat its loudest of tunes.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 535. Before him the drums beat Lillibullero. Ibid., xvii. (1871), 289. The drums of Limerick beat a parley.
c. intr. predicated of the signal, etc. = To be beaten, to be expressed by beating.
1816. C. James, Mil. Dict. (ed. 4), 178. The Réveillé always beats at break of day.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, II. v. 55. Wake me about half an hour before the assembly beats.
32. To beat time: to mark musical time by beating a drum, by tapping with the hands, feet, a stick, etc., by striking the air with a baton; also fig. to keep time with.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 301. With Pride to prance; And (rightly manag’d) equal Time to beat.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 157, ¶ 2. The Part rather of one who beats the Time, than of a Performer.
1807. Robinson, Archæol. Græca, V. xxiii. 535. The leaders of choruses beat time sometimes with the hand, and sometimes with the foot.
1842. Tennyson, Miller’s Dau., 67. A love-song I had somewhere read … Beat time to nothing in my head.
1847. Longf., Ev. (1851), 172. And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to the music.
33. There is often a combination of the notions of the beating of the heart, the pulse, or chronometer (senses 13, 14) with that of the beating of a drum, the beating of time, etc.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. i. 39. The Bell then beating one.
a. 1656. Bp. King, Poems & Ps. (1843), 38. My Pulse, like a soft Drum, Beats my approch.
1704. Steele, Lying Lover, I. i. (1732), 23. To all, my Heart and every Pulse beat time.
1769. Maskelyne, in Phil. Trans., LIX. 279. A pendulum clock beating half seconds.
1792. Mary Wollstonecr., Rights Wom., vii. 278. The heart made to beat time to humanity, rather than to throb with love.
1812. Woodhouse, Astron., viii. 53. The seconds which it [a clock] beats.
1839. Longf., Ps. Life, iv. Our hearts … like muffled drums are beating Funeral marches to the grave.
III. With adverbs, and in phrases.
* With adverbs.
34. Beat about: see 26 b. Beat away: see 2 and 16.
35. Beat back: a. To force back by beating (cf. 15); b. To drive back by force, to repel, repulse; c. To cause to rebound (cf. 16).
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. xi. § 21. That our pride … be controlled, and our disputes beaten back.
1621. Molle, Camerar. Liv. Libr., I. vii. 23. The souldiers … knew not how to doe to beat backe the enemy.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit. (1851), 28. We beat back the flame; not with a purpose to suppress it, but to raise it higher.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 7. By Reflection when they are beaten back from Bodies, against which they strike.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 588. On the eighth a gallant sally of French dragoons was gallantly beaten back.
36. Beat down: a. To force or drive downward by beating or hammering (cf. 15); b. To batter or break down by heavy blows, to demolish, knock down (cf. 17); c. fig. To overthrow (an institution, opinion, etc.); d. To force down (a price) by haggling (cf. 18). With these cf. ABATE. e. intr. To come down with violence, like rain blown by the wind, the sun’s rays, etc. (cf. 6); f. (see 19); g. To reduce by beating (cf. 22).
a. 1400. Destr. Troy, XXIX. 11931. The knightes … brentyn and betyn doun all the big houses.
1547. Homilies, I. Salvation (1859), 30. This doctrine … beateth down the vain glory of man.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, And finallye to beate downe Saran under our feete.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., II. xii. (1597), 53. Fighting to beate downe the Gates.
1602. Fulbecke, Pandects, 28. Democracie hath beene bette doune, and Monarchie established.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 63. The enemy with great slaughter still beaten downe.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1877), V. 87. To alter my office by beating down the wall and making me a fayre window there.
1793. Bentham, Wks. (1843), IV. 413. Thus monopoly will beat down prices.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii. (1871), II. 280. One whole side of the castle had been beaten down.
c. 1850. Rudim. Nav. (Weale), 107. For the purpose of keeping the sea from beating down.
1860. Geo. Eliot, in Cross, Life (1885), II. xi. 273. The fields that were so sadly beaten down a little while ago are now standing in fine yellow shocks.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 16. 113. The sun … beat down upon us with intense force.
37. Beat in: a. To knock or force in by beating (cf. 15); b. To drive in by force (cf. 16); c. To smash or break in by blows, to batter in (cf. 17); d. To inculcate (cf. 15 b); e. (see 19).
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 260 b. Thys should the Monkes and Fryers haue beaten in and set forth.
1589. Warner, Alb. Eng., VI. xxix. (1597), 143. Scots but brag, and he did beate them in.
1874. Boutell, Arms & Arm., vi. 91. An axe-blow … would even beat in a shield.
38. Beat off: a. To drive away from by blows, attacks, volleys (cf. 16, 17); b. (see 19).
1650. R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low C. Warres, VII. 41. When the Enemye … attacques the Towne, it cannot beat them off.
1764. Harmer, Observ., XIV. i. 37. No rain fell in the day-time, to beat off the workmen.
c. Beat on: (see 2.)
39. Beat out: a. To trace out a path by treading it first, to lead the way (cf. 3); b. To knock or force or shape out by beating (cf. 15); c. To drive out by force or fighting (cf. 16); d. To hammer out into a bulge, to extend by hammering (see 21); e. To thresh (corn); f. To work out or get to the bottom of (a matter, laboriously), to ‘hammer’ out; g. (in U.S.) To overpower completely, to exhaust; h. To measure out by beats (cf. 33).
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, 293. To beate out the causes of these calamities.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. iii. 58. They shall beat out my braines with billets.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Ivstine, 14 a. Themystocles … began to beat out what they intended.
1611. Bible, Ruth ii. 17. So she gleaned in the field vntill euen, and beat out [1388 Wyclif beet with a ȝerde, and schook out; Coverd. shaked out] that she had gleaned.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xxi. (1627), 244. The … labours of others, which beat out the … sense of every word and phrase.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 446. A stone That beat out life.
1667. Sir R. Moray, in Lauderd. Papers (1885), II. 42. Wee beat out the bottom of the matter.
1672. Bp. Lloyd, Fun. Serm. Bp. Wilkins, 39. Sometimes beating out new untravell’d ways, sometimes repairing those that had been beaten already.
1775. Fielding, Miser, V. iv. Lovegold … I’ll beat out your brains.
1780. G. Clinton, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), III. 132. They were so beat out with fatigue.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., I. II. iv. The clock Beats out the little lives of men.
40. Beat together: (see 23.)
Beat up: a. To tread up by much trampling (cf. 3); b. To make way against the wind or tide (see 19 b); c. To bring a soft or semi-fluid mass to equal consistency by beating (see 23); d. (see 30, 31 b); e. To beat up for recruits, etc. (see 27); to beat up quarters (see 28).
1882. Daily Tel., 24 June, 2/7. At the commencement of play the wicket was moderately good, but it was beaten up considerably during the latter half of the Australian innings.
Mod. ‘We had an egg beaten up and biscuits.’
** In the phrases:
41. To beat the bounds: to trace out the boundaries of a parish, striking certain points with rods, etc., by way of a sensible sign patent to witnesses. To beat goose, or (Naut.) the booby: to strike the hands under the armpits to warm them. † To beat the hoof, beat it on the hoof: to go on foot (obs.). To beat the knave out of doors, name of an obsolete game of cards.
1570. B. Googe, Popish Kingd., IV. (1880), 53 (margin), Procession weeke. Bounds are beaten.
1687. T. Brown, Saints in Up., Wks. 1730, I. 78. We beat the hoof as pilgrims.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. /412. They all beated it on the hoof … to London.
1816. Singer, Hist. Cards, 260. A childish pastime with cards played … under the title of ‘Beat the Knave out of doors.’
1879. Sala, in Daily Tel., 21 July, 5/5. You and your mates were provided with long willow wands with which, at appointed spots, to beat the bounds.
1883. Times, 15 March, 9/6. The common labourers at outdoor work were ‘beating goose’ to drive the blood into their fingers.
42. Horsemanship. Technical phrases: To beat a curvet, the dust, upon a walk, upon the hand, etc. (See quot.)
1607. Markham, Caval., I. (1617), 16. To manage, to beat a coruet and such like.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Beat, A horse is said to beat the dust, when at each stroke or motion, he does not take in ground or way enough with his forelegs…. He beats the dust at curvets, when he does them too precipitantly, and too low…. He beats upon a walk, when he walks too short, and thus rids but little ground, whether it be in streight lines, rounds or passings. Ibid., Chack in the Manege is taken in the same sense, as beat upon the hand; it is applied to a horse, when his head is not steady, but he tosses up his nose and shakes it all of a sudden, to avoid the subjection of the bridle.
43. Phrases treated under senses 1–33:
To beat about the bush (see 26 c), the air (1 c), a bargain (18), black and blue (1 b), one’s brains (29), the breast (1), a brook (20), the bush (26), a carpet (25), a charge (30 b), a door (1), a drum (30), the ears (7), one’s head (29), hollow (10), the market (18), money (21), out of the field (16), a parley (30 b), a path (3), the price (18), a retreat (30 b), seconds (33), the ship (19 d), small (22), the stream (20), the streets (3), time (32), to arms (30), to ribbons, to sticks (10), a track (3), a tree (25), up quarters (28), the water (1 c, 26), the wind (1 c), the wings (12).
