Etymology: < beat v.¹

Etymology: Of uncertain form and etymology; the 15th cent. bete and 18th cent. frequent bait , point to beat as the 16th cent. and normal modern form, bait being only a phonetic variant at a time when the pronunciation was still /beɪt/ as in great , and beet being a modern phonetic spelling since the pronunciation became /biːt/ as in meat , meet . Possibly from the verb beat , in sense of a ‘beating,’ or quantity to be beaten at once; see beat v.¹ 24, and compare stack, etc.

Etymology: Of doubtful phonetic form, and unknown origin. The modern Devonshire pronunciation is /beɪt/ variously spelt bait, bate, beat. Although bait occurs constantly in Gervaise Markham, beat(e was the spelling of the verb with Fitzherbert in 1534, Carew in 1602, and of the noun with Worlidge in 1681, and is apparently the proper form. The verb is found nearly a century before the noun, and may thus be its immediate source, but on general grounds, the converse is more likely. The suggestion that beat is another form of peat n.¹, is incompatible with the history of the latter. The Old Norse beit ‘pasturage,’ beiti ‘pasture,’ also ‘heath, ling,’ would barely do for the sense, and phonetically would give bait , not beat . See beat v.²

Etymology: < beat- in beat generation n. (see discussion at that entry). Compare beatnik n.

Etymology: Shortened < beaten adj.

Etymology: Common Germanic; Old English béatan , strong verb, identical with Old Norse bauta , Old High German bôȥan , Middle High German bôȥen < Germanic *baut-an , not found in Gothic. The Old English past tense béot (representing earlier reduplicated *bebôt , *baibaut ), duly became in Middle English bēt , bete (with close ē , as distinct from the open e or ę of the present); its modern form would be beet , but this became obsolete in 16th cent. The actual past tense beat is probably shortened from the Middle English weak form beted , in 16th cent. beated . The past participle 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 < beated, but comes naturally enough from Middle English bet, shortened < bete, beten, found already in 13th cent., and having the open e of the present.