beat 
beat 1 (bet), v. ; wet. in-<it, pp. in<it< , //, ppr. 
ln-iitiitj/. [< ME. /wiV'w, < AS. liniinii (pret. /-^, 
pp. beaten) = OHO. rV:/, Ml hi. /<.( = li-i-l. 
liitiitn, beat. The supiTliei;il n-s.-iiil'hmri- to F. 
battrc, E. ///', Imllrrl, is ,n-ci<lc-nt;il, but 1ms 
perhaps influenced some of the meanings <>f 
iVr-ifl. Hence /wr/ff-1.] I. <>*. 1. To strike 
repeatedly; lay repeated blows upon. 
\\':^hi-ilt in. luice, an. I lii-irt me (u ;i coward. 
I-'/: li-ln-i-, Humorous Lieutenant, ii. I. 
The eagles of \Ie\itli -shall l-ut tin- ail- no more. 
Wtiittii-r, Tin' Crisis. 
2. Tostrike inorderto produce n sound; sound 
by percussion: as, to beat a drum or a tam- 
bourine. 
(' ..... c, lifitl all llic drums up, 
And all thr nohle instruments of war. 
hli'tcher, Humorous Lieutenant, v. 5. 
3. To play (a particular call or tattoo) upon 
the drum: as, to bml a charge; to bi-nt a re- 
treat. [The last phrase often means simply 
to retire or retreat.] 
The enemy was driven bark all day, as we had been the 
day before, until Dually he beat a precipitate reheat. 
IT. ,S'. llniiil, Personal Memoirs, I. 350. 
4. To break, bruise, comminute, or jmlvcri/.c 
by beating or pounding, as any hard substance. 
Thnii .shall In-ill soni.- of it very small. K\. \\\. ::c.. 
5. To extend by beating, as gold or other mal- 
leable substance, or to hammer into any form ; 
forge. 
They did beat the gold Into thin plates. Ex. xxxlx. 8. 
The hammer which smote tin 1 Sariu-ensat Tours was at 
last successful in bent in-i the Nciherlan<ls into Christianity. 
Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 21. 
6. To separate by concussion ; strike apart ; 
remove by striking or threshing : with out. 
So she . . . in-lit out that she bad gleaned : and it was 
about an ephah of barley. Ruth ii. 17. 
7. To mix by a striking or beating motion; 
whip into the desired condition : as, to bent or 
bi-at up eggs or batter. 8. To dash or strike 
against, as water or wind. 
Beyond this flood a frozen continent 
Lies, dark and wild, beat with perpetual storm. 
MMun, P. L., ii. 588. 
9. Tostrike with the feetin moving; tread upon. 
Pass awful gulfs and beat my painful way. 
Sir R. 
Along the margin of the moonlight sea 
We beat with thundering hoofs the level sand. 
Wordxivttrth, Prelude, x. 
Amid the sound of steps that beat 
The murmuring walks like autumn rain. 
llryant, The Crowded Street. 
10. To range (fields or woods) with loud blows 
or other noise in search of game. 
To beat the woods and rouse the bounding prey. Prior. 
Together let us beat this simple field, 
Try what the open, what the covert yield ! 
I*upt',, Essay on Man, i. 9. 
11. To overcome in battle, contest, or strife; 
vanquish or conquer: as, one beats another at 
play. 
Pyrrhus . . . beat the Carthaginians at sea. Arbuthnot. 
12. To surpass ; excel ; go beyond : as, he beats 
them all at swimming. [Colloq.] 
Many ladies in Strasburg were beautiful, still 
They were beat all to sticks by the lovely Odllle. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 239. 
There is something out of common here that beatg any- 
thing that ever came In my way. Dickens. 
13. To be too difficult for, whether intellectu- 
ally or physically; baffle: as, it beats me to 
make it out. [Colloq.] 14. To harass; ex- 
ercise severely; cudgel (one's brains). 
Sirrah, lay by your foolish study there, 
And beat your brains about your own affairs. 
FMcherand Rowley, Maid in the Mill, Ii. 1. 
Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin 
grammar who does not intend to be a critic ? Locke. 
16. Toexhaust: ag, the long and toilsome jour- 
ney quite beat him. [Colloq.] 
They had been beaten out with the exposure and hard- 
ship. /(. //. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 385. 
16. To flutter; flap: as, to beat the wings: said 
of a bird. See batel. 17. In medieval embroi- 
dery, to ornament with thin plates of gold or 
silver. 
Hur clothys weyth bestes and byrdes wer bete, 
All allow ii- for pryde. 
Quoted In Sock's Textile Fabrics. 
One coat for my lord's lM>dy beat with gold. 
Dugdalf, Baronage. 
18. In printing: (a) To ink with beaters. (6) 
To impress by repeatedly striking with a mal- 
let a proof -planer pressed against the paper: 
as, beat a proof of that form. 10. To obtain 
493 
mi unfair advantage of; defraud: an, to brat ;\ 
ImtH. [SlaiiK- I'. S. ] TO beat a bargain. fat 
/, ,>/."/(. To beat a parley, to notify tin- <-nrm> i-.\ 
ilriiin df ti uin|'< t signal that ciHiiVivnri- in (h-sii. -1 mult-i a 
Hag of truer. To beat away, in minina. to rxcavatu: 
usually applied tu hard groana. To beat back, to ''"in 
PI I to ivtiiv or return. To beat cock -fighting. *' 
c U 'k-fi : itiHifr. To beat down. <")To break, d. -H"\, or 
tllfnU llottil liV tK-atillL' "I haft.T INU r . il* Jl Wall. ('-) Tn 
juv.^s d'lun i>r lay Hat (^ras.s, urain, etc.) hy any pp--tr.it 
in^ action, a that of a violent wind, it current of water, 
or tin- pa>,sa^"-.,f pns, m.,., raiiimaU. (r) To eaiiM- 1<> lower 
(a price) liy unportanitj or argument; sink or lessen tin- 
jn'irt or value of ; make, lourr, ;i- j.j jr.- m value. 
It [iimiry] ht-fitx il.m-n tlit- price of liuiil, llnciiti. (miry. 
(</) To depress or crush : as, to font <lirn opposUion. To 
beat Into, tn teach nr inxttl ty ivjH-titioii of jMKtrur-tjoii. 
To beat off. to n-p.-i ..r.irive i.afk. To beat out. () 
'I'o i-xtt'iid hy haflmwrlng ; hence, Jlgurativi-ly, to work out 
fully; amplify; expand, 
A man thinking on his lens IB obliged to beat out his 
thought for hit) own sake, If not for the sake of his l< 
Cornhitt M,,,,. 
(ft) To perform <r execute, as a piece of music, by or as 
if by Iwats with the hamls or feet. 
The child's feet were busy beating out the tune. 
CornhiU May. 
r< i plcxt in faith, hut pure in deeds, 
At last he '""' his HIUHJC nut. 
Tennyson^ In Meinoriam, xcvt. 
(r) To drive out or away. 
Intermediate varit-tii-w, fnun exiting in lesaer numhcis 
than the forms which they connect, will generally oe 
ln'nt> n -"it aii.l '\t'rminaU i o durlnK the eourne of further 
nioiliiication and inipr"\rin.-nt. 
!hi,-iriti t origin of SjMTies, p. 2W5. 
To beat the air, to fight to no purpose, or against no an- 
tagonist or oppositiou. 
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so tight I, not as 
one that beateth the air. 1 Cor, i\. 20. 
To beat the bounds. See fcmnrfi. To beat the dust, 
In the nKiiifiH' .- (a) To take in too little ground with the 
fore legs, as a horse, (b) To curvet too precipitately or 
too low, att a horse. - To beat the general, to sound 
the roll of the drum which calls the troops together. To 
beat the tattoo, to sound the drum for evening roll-call, 
when all soldiers except those absent with permission 
are expected to be present in their quarters. To beat 
the wind, to make a few flourishes in the air, and thus 
be entitled to all the advantages of a victor, as was done 
under the medieval system of trial hy battle when the 
other combatant failed to appear. To beat time, to 
measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the 
hand or foot. -To beat to a mummy. See mummy. 
To beat Up. (a) To attack suddenly; alarm or disturb; 
hence, to come to or upon unexpectedly : as, to beat up an 
enemy's quarters. 
A distant relation left him an estate in Ireland, where 
he had resided ever since, making occasional visits to the 
Continent and beatiny up his old quarters, but rarely com- 
ing to England. Lawrence. 
(b) To summon or bring together as by beat of drum : as, 
to beat "/' recruits, (c) In hunting^ to rouse and drive 
(game) by ranging. 
They beat up a little game peradventure. 
Lamb, Imperfect Sympathies. 
(-/) In eiHjraviiif/, to remove (a dent or mark) from the 
face of a plate by striking the back with a punch while 
the face rests on a sheet of tin-foil on an anvil or a stake. 
. 
In this way engravers can remove marks too deep to he 
obliterated by the scraper or burnisher. = 8yn. 1. To 
pound, bang, buffet, maul, drab, thump, thwack, haste, 
thrash, pommel. 11. Dincmnjit, Rout, etc. See defeat. 
H. intrans. 1. To strike repeatedly ; knock, 
as at a door. 
The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges xlx. 22. 
2. To move with pulsation; throb: as, the 
pulse beats. 
A thousand hearts beat happily. 
Byron, Childe Harold, III. 21. 
With unused thoughts and sweet 
And hurrying hopes, his heart began to in-nt. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 408. 
3. To act, dash, or fall with force or violence, 
as a storm, flood, passion, etc.: as, the tempest 
beats against the house. 
And the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he 
fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah Iv. 8. 
Rolling tempests vainly beat below. Dryden. 
For the noon Is coming on, and the sunbeams fiercely beat. 
Bryant, Damsel of Peru. 
4. To be tossed so as to strike the ground vio- 
lently or frequently. 
Float in", corps lie beating on the shore. Addition. 
5. To give notice by beating a drum ; also, to 
sound on being beaten, as a drum. 
But Linden saw another sight 
When the drum beat at dead of night. 
I'niiifiiit-tl, Hohenllnden. 
6. To contain beats or pulsations of sound, as 
a tone formed by sounding together two notes 
which are nearly in unison. See beat, n., 1. 7. 
To ponder; be incessantly engaged; be anx- 
iously directed to something ; be in agitation 
or doubt. 
If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell, 
And there repose ; a turn or two I'll walk, 
To still my beating mind. Shot., Tempest, Iv. 1. 
beat 
Thy heaven in on earth ; thine c\.-s and thought* 
Ili-itt on a crown, the treasure of thy li. ai t 
.S/.,ii.'. -1 MCI, VI., ii. 1. 
8. \<iul.. to make progress against the wind 
by ;iltiTn:ile tacks in a xii^xii^ line. A good 
s.inaic ri-_-i:c,l \.-ss.-l nil! make a dirr.-l gain to winduald 
of three lentils of the distance -lie ha* -:-ll. .i u liilc I .fat 
ing. while the i-'ain to win<l\\ anl fore and-aft 
! u ill I., rij.i. il lo live ..I -ix tenths of the dls- 
!a sail.-. I. 
We took a jiil.it on board, hove up onr anchor, anil IM-- 
gan beating down the bay. 
It. II. Ilium. Jr.. lief on- tin- M . 
Many yaclitsm. n bail pronounce .1 it to be an imi>o8si- 
bllity for our vessel I., fn-nl out in so li^bt a ! 
I. mlii ! i^e of Sunbeam, I. i. 
To beat about, to -can-h ii\ \an..ns in. ans or ways; 
make efforts al .lisc..\. i> 
To Mn. I an honest man. I li-nt n'mnr 
/'..;-. Kpil. to Satires, ii. 102. 
To beat about the bush, to approach a matin- in a 
roundabout <>r . n. um]. ntn "av. To beat to quar- 
ters, to summon the cr.u of a man-of-war liy heat of drum 
to their stations f..r battle. To beat up and down, in 
Im iii i i,-r . lo run Hist ..nc u i\ an<l Ih.'ii an. .III. i : said of a 
stag. To beat up for recruits or soldiers, to uo about 
to enlist men into the army : a phla.se originating in tin- 
fact that a recruiting party was often preceded hy a drum- 
mer with bis Instrument. To beat upont, to enforce liy 
repetition ; reiterate. 
How frequently and fervently doth the Scripture beat 
nii"ii tin- . M HaketriU. 
beat' (bet), . [< bent 1 , r.] 1. A stroke; a 
striking; a blow, whether with the hand or 
with a weapon. [Rare.] 
The Smith Divine, as with a careless brnt, 
Struck out the mute creation at a heat. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, I. 2S3. 
Thus we get but years and In ul*. 
Fletcher, Valentinian, li. 3. 
2. A recurrent stroke; a pulsation; a throb: 
as, the / " ' of the pulse ; the heart makes from 
sixty to seventy beats a minute. 3. The sound 
made by the foot in walking or running; a 
footfall. 
The beat of her unseen feet, 
Which only the angels hear. 
SheUry. The Cloud. 
4. A round or course which is frequently gone 
over: as, a watchman's beat; a milKman s beat. 
We had to descend from the sea-wall, and walk under 
it, until we got beyond the sentry's beat. 
Hoimllt, Venetian Life, xll. 
Hence 6. A course habitually traversed, or 
a place to which one habitually or frequently 
resorts. 6. In Alabama and Mississippi, the 
principal subdivision of a county ; a yotmg-pre- 
einct. 7. In music: (a) The beating or pul- 
sation arising from the interference of two 
musical notes differing but slightly in pitch. 
See interference. The number of heats per second Is 
equal to the difference between the numbers of vibrations 
of the two notes. Thus, two notes having 256 and 255 
vibrations per second respectively, if sounded simultane- 
ously, will give rise to one beat each second, because once 
in each second the two wave-systems (see wtund) will coin- 
cide and produce a maximum sound, anil once they will 
he half a wave-length apart, and the sound will almost 
disappear. Also called beating, (ft) The motion of 
the hand, foot, or baton in marking the divi- 
sions of time during the performance of a piece 
of music, (c) Used vaguely by various English 
writers to denote different kinds of ornamental 
notes or graces. 8. The third operation in 
paper-making, in which the pulp is still further 
divided and torn apart in the beating-engine. 
9. The blow struck by a valve when falling 
into its seat. 10. The bearing part or the 
facing of a valve. 
The Inlet and outlet valves in the covers of the air-cyl- 
inders are of brass provided with leather ii- ni*. 
Ure, Diet., IV. 740. 
11. A worthless, dishonest, shiftless fellow; a 
knave. [Slang.]- Beat of a watch or clock, the 
stroke made by the action of the escapement. A clock Is 
said to be in beat or out of beat according as the stroke is 
at equal or unequal intervals.- Beat or tuck Of drum 
dm/ it.t. a succession of strokes on a drum, varied in differ- 
ent ways for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, 
to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an at- 
tack or a retreat, etc. Dead beat. (" i Formerly, a person 
without money or resources ; now, one who never pays, 
but lives by evasions ; an utterly dishonest, worthless fel- 
low: an Intensified expression of i-nt. 11, above. [Slang. I 
(b) A stroke or blow without recoil, as in the <lca<lb,-at 
escapement. See escapement. Double beat. In mi/*"-, a 
beat repeated. Out Of one's beat, not in one's sphere 
or department. [Colloq.] 
beat' (bet), pp. [Snorter form of beaten, which 
is the only form used attributively.] Exhaust- 
ed by exertion, mentally or bodily ; fatigued ; 
worn out by toil. [Colloq.} 
Quite beat and very much vexed. Iticknt*. 
Dead beat, completely exhausted or worn out. so as to 
be Incapable of further exertion ; utterly halite. I, as by 
the difficulty of a task ; thoroughly defeated in a contest 
or struggle. (Colloq. I 
