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…

transitive. Hunting. To cause (game) to rise or emerge from cover. Also more generally: to rouse, start (an animal).

transitive. To beat (a covert) in stag-hunting. Also absol.

transitive. ? To beat the bushes in (a wood) in order to rouse the game.

quasi-transitive. To hunt over, beat (a bush).

U.S. transitive. To beat; apparently in allusion to the beating of flax. Also with out. Cf. flaxen, v.

To beat (a covert). Also int. in verbal noun.