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(bt), v. t.[imp.Beat; p. p.Beat, Beaten (); p. pr. & vb. n.Beating.] [OE. beaten, beten, AS. betan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. bzan. Cf. 1st Butt, Button.] 1. To strike repeatedly; to lay repeated blows upon; as, to beat one's breast; to beat iron so as to shape it; to beat grain, in order to force out the seeds; to beat eggs and sugar; to beat a drum. Thou shalt beat some of it [spices] very small. Ex. xxx. 36. They did beat the gold into thin plates. Ex. xxxix. 3. 2. To punish by blows; to thrash. 3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game. To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey. Prior. 4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind. A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms. Milton. 5. To tread, as a path. Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way. Blackmore. 6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish or c Beat v. i. 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judg. 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; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. 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. Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. Bacon. 4. To be in agitation or doubt. [Poetic] To still my beating mind. Shak. 5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. 6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. 7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. 8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and les Beat (), n. 1. A stroke; a blow. He, with a careless beat, Struck out the mute creation at a heat. Dryden. 2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse. 3. (Mus.) (a) The rise or fall of the hand or foot, marking the divisions of time; a division of the measure so marked. In the rhythm of music the beat is the unit. (b) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament. 4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or renforcement of a sound, recurring at regular intervals, and produced by the interference of sound waves of slightly different periods of vibrations; applied also, by analogy, to other kinds of wave motions; the pulsation or throbbing produced by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison. See Beat, v. i., 8. 5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat. 6. A place of habitual or frequent resort. 7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by de Beat a.Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted. [Colloq.] Quite beat, and very much vexed and disappointed. Dickens. Beat n. 1. One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him. [Colloq.] 2. The act of one that beats a person or thing; as: (a) (Newspaper Cant) The act of obtaining and publishing a piece of news by a newspaper before its competitors; also, the news itself; a scoop. It's a beat on the whole country. Scribner's Mag. (b) (Hunting) The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively. "Driven out in the course of a beat." Encyc. of Sport. Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them. Encyc. of Sport. (c) (Fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade. スポンサード リンク
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