beat has definitions from the fields of physics,music,nautical,prosody,verse,writing,transportation
1
[ verb ] come out better in a competition, race, or conflict

Examples

"Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship" "We beat the competition" "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game"

Used in print

(The Sun, [Baltimore],...)

Jim_Gentile bounced a hard shot off Kunkel 's glove and beat it out for a single , and when Lumpe grabbed the ball and threw it over first_baseman Throneberry 's head Brandt took third and Gentile second on the error .

George_Kerr , the swift striding Jamaican , set a meet record in the 600 - yard run in the Knights_of_Columbus track_meet tonight , beating Purdue 's Dave_Mills in a hot duel in 1.10.1 .

Kerr , who set the world_record earlier this month in New_York with a clocking of 1.09.3 , wiped_out Mills 's early pace and beat the young Big_10 quarter-mile king by 5 yards .

(The Dallas Morning News,...)

He kicked several while playing at Stamford_High_School , including one that beat Anson , 3 - 0 , in a 1953 district game .

(The New York Times,...)

Mazeroski , whose homer beat the Yankees in the final series game , will receive the Babe_Ruth_Award as the outstanding player in the 1960 world_series .

2
[ verb ] give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression

Synonyms

work_over beat_up

Examples

"Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night" "The teacher used to beat the students"

Used in print

(Evan Esar, Humorous English; a guide to comic ,...)

`` I saw a man once beat his wife When on a drunken spree .

3
[ verb ] hit repeatedly

Examples

"beat on the door" "beat the table with his shoe"

Used in print

(Robert Penn Warren, Wilderness....)

He thought_of Simms_Purdew , who once had risen at the edge of a cornfield , a maniacal scream on his lips , and swung a clubbed musket like a flail to beat down the swirl of Rebel bayonets about him .

(Leon Uris, Mila 8....)

All_of them were there in this loosely_knit association of diversified ideologies , and each berated the other and beat his breast for his own approaches .

4
[ verb ] move rhythmically

Synonyms

thump pound

Examples

"Her heart was beating fast"

Used in print

(Bruce Palmer, "My Brother's Keeper", Many Are...)

The man wheezed weakly , his fetid breath beating softly against Watson 's neck .

(Marvin Schiller, "The Sheep's in the Meadow,"...)

My heart almost stopped beating .

5
[ verb ] shape by beating

Examples

"beat swords into ploughshares"

Used in print

(Kenneth Scott Latourette, Christianity in a Revolutiona...)

Later in the century the dream again found expression in the lines of Katherine_Lee_Bates ( 1859 - 1929 ) , daughter and granddaughter of New_England Congregational ministers , in her widely sung hymn , written in 1893 , `` America the Beautiful '' , with the words `` O beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness .

Related terms

shape forge

6
[ verb ] (music) make a rhythmic sound

Synonyms

drum thrum

Examples

: "Rain drummed against the windshield" "The drums beat all night"

Used in print

(Francis Pollini, Night....)

The music drove them off , or away , and he was free to walk_on_air in a very few moments , humming and jiving within , beating the rhythm within .

Related terms

go rhythm

7
[ noun ] (music) the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music

Examples

"the piece has a fast rhythm" "the conductor set the beat"

Used in print

(The Providence Journal...)

, and Berman sifted_out all alone on the stage with the ambling chords and beat of the song just whispering into being .

8
[ verb ] (nautical,transportation) sail with much tacking or with difficulty

Examples

"The boat beat in the strong wind"

Used in print

(Life BR-C16. Saturday Review, 44:15 (April 15, 1961)...)

And on northern shores indomitable sailors from Long_Island to Lake_Michigan will beat around the buoys in dozens of frostbite races .

Related terms

sail navigation

9
[ verb ] move with a thrashing motion

Synonyms

flap

Examples

"The bird flapped its wings" "The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky"

Related terms

move clap bate

10
[ noun ] the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart

Examples

"he could feel the beat of her heart"

Used in print

(Gerald Green, The Heartless Light....)

She answered him precisely , missing not a beat in her scrutiny of the financial reports .

11
[ verb ] glare or strike with great intensity

Examples

"The sun was beating down on us"

Related terms

glare glare

12
[ verb ] strike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to music

Examples

"beat one's breast" "beat one's foot rhythmically"

Related terms

strike rhythm

13
[ noun ] (transportation) a regular route for a sentry or policeman

Synonyms

round circuit

Examples

"in the old days a policeman walked a beat and knew all his people by name"

Used in print

(Breni James, Nights of the Kill....)

The day-watch platoon commander , Lt._Rinker , was calling_out the beat assignments , but Matson could n't make the names mean anything .

Related terms

path

14
[ verb ] stir vigorously

Synonyms

scramble

Examples

"beat the egg whites" beat the cream"

Used in print

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch,...)

`` Pittsburgh definitely is the team to beat '' , Mauch said here the other day .

Related terms

agitate stir whisk cream cooking

15
[ noun ] a member of the Beat Generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior

Synonyms

beatnik

16
[ verb ] move with or as if with a regular alternating motion

Synonyms

quiver pulsate

Examples

"the city pulsated with music and excitement"

Related terms

move pulsate

17
[ verb ] strike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for hunting
18
[ verb ] (music) produce a rhythm by striking repeatedly

Examples

: "beat the drum"

Related terms

play music

19
[ noun ] (physics) a single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies; has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations

Related terms

oscillation

20
[ verb ] make by pounding or trampling

Examples

"beat a path through the forest"

Related terms

make tread

21
[ verb ] wear out completely

Examples

"This kind of work exhausts me" "I'm beat" "He was all washed up after the exam"

22
[ verb ] (music) indicate by beating; as with the fingers or drumsticks

Examples

"Beat the rhythm"

Related terms

beat_out drum

23
[ verb ] be a mystery or bewildering to

Examples

"This beats me!" "Got me--I don't know the answer!" "a vexing problem" "This question really stuck me"

24
[ noun ] (prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse
25
[ noun ] a stroke or blow

Examples

"the signal was two beats on the steam pipe"

Related terms

stroke

26
[ verb ] move with a flapping motion

Synonyms

flap

Examples

"The bird's wings were flapping"

Related terms

move flail clap flap

27
[ verb ] beat through cleverness and wit

Examples

"I beat the traffic" "She outfoxed her competitors"

Related terms

surpass

28
[ noun ] the sound of stroke or blow

Examples

"he heard the beat of a drum"

Related terms

sound tick

29
[ verb ] deprive somebody of something by deceit

Examples

"The con-man beat me out of $50" "This salesman ripped us off!" "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme" "They chiseled me out of my money"

30
[ adjective ] (informal) very tired

Synonyms

dead bushed all_in

Examples

"was all in at the end of the day" "so beat I could flop down and go to sleep anywhere" "bushed after all that exercise" "I'm dead after that long trip"

Related terms

colloquialism tired

31
[ verb ] be superior

Examples

: "Reading beats watching television" "This sure beats work!"

Related terms

be

32
[ verb ] make a sound like a clock or a timer

Examples

"the clocks were ticking" "the grandfather clock beat midnight"

Related terms

go watch tick

33
[ noun ] a regular rate of repetition

Examples

"the cox raised the beat"

Related terms

pace

34
[ verb ] avoid paying

Synonyms

bunk

Examples

"beat the subway fare"

Related terms

cheat

35
[ noun ] (nautical,transportation) the act of beating to windward; sailing as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing

Related terms

sailing

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