Beat | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Bēat

[beet], v. t. [imp. BEAT; p. p. BEAT, BEATEN; p. pr. & vb. n. BEATING.] [A-S. beatan, O. Sw. beta, Lat. battuere, Serb. batati, Russ. biti, Pol. bic; Fr. battre, Pr. batre, It. battere, Sp. batir, Pg. bater.]

Sense 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon. “He beat his breast.” Dryden. “I’ll beat the drum.” Shak.

Sense 2. To break, bruise, comminute, or pulverize by beating or pounding; as, to beat hemp.

Thou shalt beat some of it [spices] very small. Ex. xxx. 36.

Sense 3. To extend by beating; to hammer; to forge.

They did beat the gold into thin plates. Ex. xxxix. 3.

Sense 4. To scour or range over in hunting.

To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey. Prior.

Sense 5. To tread, as a path.

Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way. Blackmore.

Sense 6. To force out from the husk by blows; to thrash. Ruth ii. 17.

Sense 7. To dash, strike, or brush, as water or wind.

“Beat with perpetual storms.” Milton.

Sense 8. To overcome in a battle, contest, or strife; to vanquish or conquer.

He beat them in a bloody battle. Prescott.

Sense 9. To exercise severely; to overlabor; to perplex.

Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic? Locke.

To beat back, to compel to retire or return.—To be beat out, to be extremely fatigued; to have the strength exhausted by labor or exertion.—To beat an alarm (Mil.), to give a signal of danger by beat of drum.—To beat to arms, to give a signal to soldiers to repair to their arms.—To beat a charge, to give a signal to charge the enemy.—To beat the general, to give a signal for assembling, whether on the approach of an enemy, or a fire, or revolt, &c.—To beat a parley, to give a signal for a parley with opposing forces.—To beat the tattoo, to give a signal for retiring to quarters.—To beat the troop, to give a signal for going to the flag of the regiment.—To beat down. (a.) To break, destroy, throw down, by beating or battering, as a wall. (b.) To press down or lay flat, as by treading, by a current of water, by violent wind, &c. (c.) To depress or crush; as, to beat down opposition. (d.) To sink or lessen, as price or value. “Usury beats down the price of land.” Bacon.—To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition of instruction.—To beat off, to repel or drive back.—To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. “Nor can any thing beat their posterity out of it to this day.” South.—To beat the dust, (Man.) (a.) To take in too little ground with his fore legs, as a horse. (b.) To perform his curvets too precipitately or too low.—To beat the hoof, to walk; to go on foot.—To beat the wing, to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation.—To beat time, to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.—To beat up, to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to beat up an enemy’s quarters.

Syn.—To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; break; bruise; bray; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome.

Bēat, v. i.

verbintransitive

1. To strike repeatedly; to knock. The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges xix. 22. 2. To move with pulsation or throbbing. A thousand hearts beat happily. Byron. 3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force. Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. Dryden. They [winds] beat at the crazy casement. Longfellow. The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah iv. 8.

To be in agitation or doubt; to revolve anxiously in the mind; to fluctuate. “To still my beating mind.” Shak.
(Naut.) To make progress against the direction of the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. Mar. Dict.

To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. Addison.—To beat upon, to enforce by repetition. Hooker.—To beat up for, to go about to enlist into the army.—To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another;—said of a stag.

Bēat, n.

noun

n. 1. A stroke, or the manner of giving one; a blow.

He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat. Dryden.

Sense 2. A recurring stroke; a pulsation; as, the beat of the pulse.

Sense 3. (Mus.) (a.) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, in regulating the divisions of time. (b.) A transient grace tone, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament. (c.) The pulsation produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See BEATING.

Sense 4. A round or course, which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat. Hence,

Sense 5. A place of habitual or frequent resort.

Beat of drum (Mil.), a succession of strokes varied, in different ways, for particular purposes, as to regulate a march, to call soldiers to their arms or quarters, to direct an attack, or retreat, &c.—Beat of a watch, or clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement; and a clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals.

Bēat, a.

adjective

a. Weary; tired; fatigued. [Modern and low.] Quite beat, and very much vexed and disappointed. Dickens.

Beat or Bēat'en, p. a.

participial adjective

p. a. 1. Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use. “A broad and beaten way.” Milton. “Beaten gold.” Shak.

Become common or trite by frequent use; as, a beaten question.
Tried; practiced. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.