beat /bēt/

1. To strike repeatedly
2. To pound
3. To form (a path, track, etc) by frequent use of the same route
4. To batter
5. To whip up or switch
6. To flap
7. To strike (bushes, undergrowth, etc) in order to rouse game
8. To thrash
9. To defeat, to frustrate
10. To forestall
11. To be too difficult for
12. To outdo, excel
13. To drive or thrust (back, down, off, etc)
14. To spread (eg gold) flat and thin by beating with a tool
15. To mark (time) with a baton, etc
16. To break or bruise (Bible)

1. To give strokes repeatedly
2. To flap
3. To pulsate
4. To impinge
5. To mark time in music
6. To swindle (US)
7. To sail as close as possible to directly into the wind

1. A recurrent stroke, its sound, or its moment, eg of a watch, verse, the pulse, or a conductor's baton
2. The rhythmic base unit in music, usu grouped into bars
3. Pulsation, esp that heard when two notes nearly in tune are sounded together
4. A round or course, such as a policeman's
5. An area of land or stretch of riverbank on which sportsmen hunt or fish
6. A place of resort
7. The act of beating in order to rouse game

1. Worn-out, exhausted (informal)
2. Relating to beatniks (informal)
3. Affected with bursitis (eg beat elbow or knee)

beatˈable adjective

beatˈen adjective

1. Made smooth or hard by beating or treading
2. Trite
3. Worn by use
4. Exhausted and dispirited

beatˈer noun

1. A person who or thing which beats or strikes
2. A person who rouses or beats up game
3. A crushing or mixing instrument

beatˈing noun

1. The act of striking
2. A thrashing
3. A defeat
4. Pulsation or throbbing
5. The rousing of game

beatnik /bētˈnik/ noun

1. One of the beat generation (orig in US), bohemian poets, etc who, in the 1950s, dissociated themselves from the aims of contemporary society
2. A young person whose behaviour, dress, etc is unconventional

beatˈbox noun (informal)

1. An electronic drum machine
2. A ghetto-blaster

To imitate an electronic drum machine using the voice

beatˈ-'em-up noun (informal)

A type of computer game in which an unarmed character has to fight against several enemies

beat music noun

Popular music with a very pronounced rhythm

beatˈ-up adjective (informal)

Dilapidated through excessive use

beat about the bush see under bush¹

beat a retreat

1. To retreat, orig to beat the drum as a signal for retreat (beat the retreat to perform the military ceremony (beating the retreat) consisting of marching and military music usu performed at dusk, orig marking the recall of troops to their quarters)
2. To go away in a hurry, esp to avoid punishment or unpleasantness

beat down

Of a buyer, to try to reduce (the price of goods), to persuade (the seller) to settle for less

beat it (slang)

1. To make off hastily or furtively
2. (often as imperative) go away!

beat off

To overcome or repel

beat one's brains or beat one's brains out

To puzzle about something

beat one's breast

To show extravagant signs of grief

• gulling
• gullish
• gulls
• gull-wing
• gully
• gully-hole
• gully-holes
• gully-hunter
• gully-hunters
• gullying
• gully-raker
• gully-rakers
• gulosities
• gulosity
• gulp
• gulped
• gulper
• gulpers
• gulph
• gulphed
• gulphing
• gulphs
• gulping
• gulps
• guly