Definition of 'beat'

Word Frequency

beat

(biːt )

Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense beats , present participle beating , past participle beaten language note: The form beat is used in the present tense and is the past tense.

1. verb

If you beat someone or something, you hit them very hard.

My sister tried to stop them and they beat her. [VERB noun]

They were beaten to death with baseball bats. [be VERB-ed + to]

Synonyms: batter, break, hit, strike More Synonyms of beat

2. verb

To beat on, beat at, or beat against something means to hit it hard, usually several times or continuously for a period of time.

There was dead silence but for a fly beating against the glass. [VERB + against]

Nina managed to free herself and began beating at the flames with a pillow. [VERB + at]

The rain was beating on the windowpanes. [VERB + on]

[Also VERB noun]

Synonyms: pound, strike, hammer [informal], batter More Synonyms of beat

Beat is also a noun.

...the rhythmic beat of the surf.

beating singular noun

...the silence broken only by the beating of the rain.

Synonyms: throb, pounding, pumping, pulse More Synonyms of beat

Synonyms: defeat, ruin, overthrow, pasting [slang] More Synonyms of beat

Synonyms: thrashing, hiding [informal], belting [informal], whipping [slang] More Synonyms of beat

3. verb

When your heart or pulse beats, it continually makes regular rhythmic movements.

I felt my heart beating faster. [VERB]

Synonyms: throb, pulse, tick, thump More Synonyms of beat

Beat is also a noun.

He could hear the beat of his heart.

Most people's pulse rate is more than 70 beats per minute.

beating singular noun

I could hear the beating of my heart.

Synonyms: throb, pounding, pumping, pulse More Synonyms of beat

Synonyms: defeat, ruin, overthrow, pasting [slang] More Synonyms of beat

Synonyms: thrashing, hiding [informal], belting [informal], whipping [slang] More Synonyms of beat

4. verb

If you beat a drum or similar instrument, you hit it in order to make a sound. You can also say that a drum beats.

When you beat the drum, you feel good. [VERB noun]

...drums beating and pipes playing. [VERB]

Synonyms: hit, play, strike, bang More Synonyms of beat

Beat is also a noun.

...the rhythmical beat of the drum.

5. countable noun [usually singular]

The beat of a piece of music is the main rhythm that it has.

...the thumping beat of rock music.

...the dance beats of the last two decades.

Synonyms: rhythm, time, measure [prosody], movement More Synonyms of beat

6. countable noun [usually plural]

In music, a beat is a unit of measurement. The number of beats in a bar of a piece of music is indicated by two numbers at the beginning of the piece.

It's got four beats to a bar.

7. See also upbeat, downbeat

8. verb

If you beat eggs, cream, or butter, you mix them thoroughly using a fork or beater.

Beat the eggs and sugar until they start to thicken. [VERB noun]

Synonyms: whisk, mix, stir, fold More Synonyms of beat

9. verb

When a bird or insect beats its wings or when its wings beat, its wings move up and down.

Beating their wings they flew off. [VERB noun]

Its wings beat slowly. [VERB]

Synonyms: flap, thrash, flutter, agitate More Synonyms of beat

10. verb

If you beat someone in a competition or election, you defeat them.

In yesterday's games, Switzerland beat the United States two-one. [VERB noun]

There are men who simply don't like being beaten by a woman. [VERB noun]

She was easily beaten into third place. [be VERB-ed + into]

Synonyms: defeat, outdo, trounce, overcome More Synonyms of beat

11. verb

If someone beats a record or achievement, they do better than it.

He was as eager as his Captain to beat the record. [VERB noun]

Synonyms: exceed, best, top, cap [informal] More Synonyms of beat

12. verb

If you beat something that you are fighting against, for example an organization, a problem, or a disease, you defeat it.

It became clear that the Union was not going to beat the government. [VERB noun]

The doctor gave him the news that he'd beaten cancer.

They recognise that tough action offers the only hope of beating inflation. [VERB noun]

Both he and his wife have recently beaten cancer and now are taking on some new challenges. [VERB noun]

13. verb [usually passive]

If an attack or an attempt is beaten off or is beaten back, it is stopped, often temporarily.

The rescuers were beaten back by strong winds and currents. [be V-ed adv]

...the day after government troops beat off a fierce rebel attack on its capital. [V adv n]

14. verb [no cont]

If you say that one thing beats another, you mean that it is better than it.

[informal]

Being boss of a software firm beats selling insurance. [VERB noun]

Nothing quite beats the luxury of soaking in a long, hot bath at the end of a tiring day. [VERB noun]

For an evening stroll the beach at Dieppe is hard to beat. [VERB noun]

15. verb [no cont]

If you say you can't beat a particular thing you mean that it is the best thing of its kind.

You can't beat soap and water for cleansing. [VERB noun]

16. verb

To beat a time limit or an event means to achieve something before that time or event.

They were trying to beat the midnight deadline. [VERB noun]

Those who shop on Sunday to beat the rush are wasting their time. [VERB noun]

17. countable noun

A police officer's or journalist's beat is the area for which he or she is responsible.

Crime on his beat has halved.

18. verb

You use beat in expressions such as 'It beats me' or 'What beats me is' to indicate that you cannot understand or explain something.

[informal, spoken]

'What am I doing wrong, anyway?'—'Beats me, Lewis.' [VERB noun]

How you can be so insensitive absolutely beats me. [VERB noun]

19. phrase

If you tell someone to beat it, you are telling them to go away.

[informal, spoken]

Beat it before it's too late.

20. convention

You can say Can you beat it? or Can you beat that? to show that you are surprised and perhaps annoyed about something.

[informal, feelings]

Can you beat it; there was Graham Greene in Freetown and there was I on the other side of Africa.

21. See also beaten, beaten-up, beating, beat-up

22.

See beat sb to it

23.

See If you can't beat them, join them.

24.

See miss a beat

25.

See miss a beat

26.

See on the beat

27.

See beat time

28. to beat someone black and blue

29. to beat someone's brains out

30. to beat one's breast

31. to beat about the bush

32. to beat the clock

33. to beat or knock the living daylights out of someone

34. to beat the drum for someone or something

35. to beat someone at their own game

36. to beat a retreat

37. a stick to beat someone with

Phrasal verbs:

See beat down

See beat out

See beat out of

See beat up

See beat up on

More Synonyms of beat

Video: pronunciation of
beat

beat in British English

(biːt )

verbWord forms: beats, beating, beat, beaten or beat

1. (when intr, often foll by against, on, etc)

to strike with or as if with a series of violent blows; dash or pound repeatedly (against)

2. (transitive)

to punish by striking; flog

to move or cause to move up and down; flap

the bird beat its wings heavily

4. (intransitive)

to throb rhythmically; pulsate

her heart beat fast

5. (transitive)

to make (one's way) by or as if by blows

she beat her way out of the crowd

6. (transitive; sometimes foll by up) cookery

to stir or whisk (an ingredient or mixture) vigorously

7. (transitive; sometimes foll by out)

to shape, make thin, or flatten (a piece of metal) by repeated blows

8. (transitive) music

to indicate (time) by the motion of one's hand, baton, etc, or by the action of a metronome

9. (when tr, sometimes foll by out)

to produce (a sound or signal) by or as if by striking a drum

10.

to sound or cause to sound, by or as if by beating

beat the drums!

11.

to overcome (an opponent) in a contest, battle, etc

12. (tr; often foll by back, down, off etc)

to drive, push, or thrust

13. (transitive)

to arrive or finish before (someone or something); anticipate or forestall

they set off early to beat the rush hour

14. (transitive)

to form (a path or track) by repeatedly walking or riding over it

15.

to scour ( woodlands, coverts, or undergrowth) so as to rouse game for shooting

16. (transitive) slang

to puzzle or baffle

it beats me how he can do that

17. (intransitive) physics

(of sounds or electrical signals) to combine and produce a pulsating sound or signal

18. (intransitive) nautical

to steer a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

19. (transitive) slang, mainly US

to cheat or defraud

he beat his brother out of the inheritance

20. beat about the bush

21. beat a retreat

22. beat it

23. beat one's breast

24. beat someone's brains out

25. beat someone to it

26. beat the bounds

27. can you beat it?

noun

28.

a stroke or blow

29.

the sound made by a stroke or blow

30.

a regular sound or stroke; throb

31.

an assigned or habitual round or route, as of a police officer or sentry

(as modifier)

beat police officers

32.

the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music, usually grouped in twos, threes, or fours

33.

pop or rock music characterized by a heavy rhythmic beat

(as modifier)

a beat group

34. physics

the low regular frequency produced by combining two sounds or electrical signals that have similar frequencies

35. horology

the impulse given to the balance wheel by the action of the escapement

36. prosody

the accent, stress, or ictus in a metrical foot

37. nautical

a course that steers a sailing vessel as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

38.

the act of scouring for game by beating

the organized scouring of a particular woodland so as to rouse the game in it

the woodland where game is so roused

39. short for beatnik

40. fencing

a sharp tap with one's blade on an opponent's blade to deflect it

41. (modifier, often capital)

of, characterized by, or relating to the Beat Generation

a beat poet

beat philosophy

adjective

42. (postpositive) slang

totally exhausted

Derived forms

beatable (ˈbeatable)

adjective

Word origin

Old English bēatan; related to Old Norse bauta, Old High German bōzan

Word Frequency

beat in American English

(bit )

verb transitiveWord forms: beat, ˈbeaten, ˈbeating

to hit or strike repeatedly; pound

to punish by striking repeatedly and hard; whip, flog, spank, etc.

to dash repeatedly against

waves beat the shore

to form by repeated treading or riding

to beat a path through grass

to keep walking on

to beat the pavements

to shape or flatten by hammering; forge

to mix by stirring or striking repeatedly with a utensil; whip (an egg, cream, etc.)

to move (esp. wings) up and down; flap; flail

to hunt through; search

the posse beat the countryside for the fugitive

to make, force, or drive by or as by hitting, flailing, or pounding

to beat one's way through a crowd, to beat chalk dust from erasers

10.

to defeat in a race, contest, or struggle; overcome

to outdo or surpass

to act, arrive, or finish before

11.

to mark (time or rhythm) by tapping, etc.

12.

to sound or signal, as by a drumbeat

13. Informal

to baffle or puzzle

14. US, Informal

to cheat or trick

15. US, Slang

to avoid the penalties associated with (a charge, indictment, etc.); escape (a rap)

verb intransitive

16.

to strike, hit, or dash repeatedly and, usually, hard

17.

to move or sound rhythmically; throb, pulsate, vibrate, tick, etc.

18.

to strike about in or hunt through underbrush, woods, etc. for game

19.

to take beating or stirring

this cream doesn't beat well

20.

to make a sound by being struck, as a drum

to beat a drum, as to sound a signal

21. Informal

to win

22. Nautical

to progress by tacking into the wind

23. Radio

to combine two waves of different frequencies, thus producing an additional frequency equal to the difference between these

noun

24.

a beating, as of the heart

25.

any of a series of blows or strokes

26.

any of a series of movements or sounds; throb

27.

a habitual path or round of duty

a policeman's beat

the subject or area assigned regularly to a news writer

28.

the unit of musical rhythm

four beats to a measure

the accent or stress in the rhythm of verse or music

the gesture of the hand, baton, etc. used to mark this

29. Ballet

a movement in which one leg is brought in contact with the other or both legs are brought together in the air

30. US, Informal

a person or thing that surpasses

you never saw the beat of it

31. US

beatnik

b. [often B-]

any of a group of U.S. writers in the 1950s and 1960s whose work grew out of and expressed beat attitudes

32. Acoustics

the regularly recurring fluctuation in loudness of sound produced by two simultaneous tones of nearly equal frequency

33. US, Journalism

a reporting of a news item ahead of all rivals; scoop

34. Nautical

a tack into the wind

35. Radio

one cycle of a frequency formed by beating

adjective

36. Informal

tired out; exhausted, physically or emotionally

37. US

of or belonging to a group of young persons, esp. of the 1950s, rebelling against conventional attitudes, dress, speech, etc., largely as an expression of social disillusionment

Idioms:

SYNONYMY NOTE: beat, the most general word in this comparison, conveys the basic idea of hitting or striking repeatedly, whether with the hands, the feet, an implement, etc.; , pound1 suggests heavier, more effective blows than , beat [to pound with a hammer]; pummel implies the beating of a person with the fists and suggests a continuous, indiscriminate rain of damaging blows; , thrash, originally referring to the beating of grain with a flail, suggests similar broad, swinging strokes, as in striking a person repeatedly with a stick, etc.; , flog implies a punishing by the infliction of repeated blows with a stick, strap, whip, etc.; , whip, often used as an equivalent of , flog, specifically suggests lashing strokes or motions; , maul implies the infliction of repeated heavy blows so as to bruise or lacerate. Most of these terms are used loosely, esp. by journalists, in describing a decisive victory in a contest

Word origin

ME beten < OE beatan < IE *bhaut- < base *bhau-, *bhū-, to strike, beat > beetle2, butt1 & butt2, L fustis, a club

Example sentences including
beat

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When they score tries they become immensely hard to beat for two reasons.That feeling lasts until you go back and beat them.They were not going to beat us that day.He only beat two inferior rivals when scoring on his chase debut at Uttoxeter last month but he jumped nicely. Make sure you beat the mayonnaise against the sides of the bowl as you go, to help give it good volume.A turgid style of rugby will beat lesser teams, but it won't beat the best four or five.When people beat your record they raise the bar.Tracks attempt to beat frost by covering the takeoff and landing sides of fences and hurdles.We set ourselves up to be hard to beat.That form makes him the one to beat.