v. t. [ imp. Beat; p. p. Beat, Beaten p. pr. & vb. n. Beating. ] [ OE. beaten, beten, AS. beátan; akin to Icel. bauta, OHG. bōzan. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou shalt beat some of it [ spices ] very small. Ex. xxx. 36. [ 1913 Webster ]

They did beat the gold into thin plates. Ex. xxxix. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To punish by blows; to thrash. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To scour or range over in hunting, accompanied with the noise made by striking bushes, etc., for the purpose of rousing game. [ 1913 Webster ]

To beat the woods, and rouse the bounding prey. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To tread, as a path. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish, defeat, or conquer; to surpass or be superior to. [ 1913 Webster ]

He beat them in a bloody battle. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

For loveliness, it would be hard to beat that. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with out. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why should any one . . . beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic? Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Mil.) To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; as, to beat an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to beat the general, the reveille, the tattoo. See Alarm, Charge, Parley, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. to baffle or stump; to defy the comprehension of (a person); as, it beats me why he would do that. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. to evade, avoid, or escape (blame, taxes, punishment); as, to beat the rap (be acquitted); to beat the sales tax by buying out of state. [ 1913 Webster ]

To beat down, to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down. [ Colloq. ] --
To beat into, to teach or instill, by repetition. --
To beat off, to repel or drive back. --
To beat out, to extend by hammering. --
To beat out of a thing, to cause to relinquish it, or give it up. “Nor can anything beat their posterity out of it to this day.” South. --
To beat the dust. (Man.) (a) To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse. (b) To perform 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly. [ 1913 Webster ]

The men of the city . . . beat at the door. Judges. xix. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move with pulsation or throbbing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thousand hearts beat happily. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, as rain, wind, and waves do. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sees rolling tempests vainly beat below. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

They [ winds ] beat at the crazy casement. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die. Jonah iv. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be in agitation or doubt. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To still my beating mind. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To make a sound when struck; as, the drums beat. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mil.) To make a succession of strokes on a drum; as, the drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Acoustics & Mus.) To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; -- said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison. [ 1913 Webster ]

A beating wind (Naut.), a wind which necessitates tacking in order to make progress. --
To beat about, to try to find; to search by various means or ways. Addison. --
To beat about the bush, to approach a subject circuitously. --
To beat up and down (Hunting), to run first one way and then another; -- said of a stag. --
To beat up for recruits, to go diligently about in order to get helpers or participators in an enterprise. --
To beat the rap, to be acquitted of an accusation; -- especially, by some sly or deceptive means, rather than to be proven innocent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A stroke; a blow. [ 1913 Webster ]

He, with a careless beat,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A recurring stroke; a throb; a pulsation; as, a beat of the heart; the beat of the pulse. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Acoustics & Mus.) A sudden swelling or reënforcement 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A round or course which is frequently gone over; as, a watchman's beat; analogously, for newspaper reporters, the subject or territory that they are assigned to cover; as, the Washington beat. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

6. A place of habitual or frequent resort. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A cheat or swindler of the lowest grade; -- often emphasized by dead; as, a dead beat; also, deadbeat. [ Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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, etc. --
Beat of a watch, or
Beat of a clock, the stroke or sound made by the action of the escapement. A clock is in beat or out of beat, according as the stroke is at equal or unequal intervals. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Weary; tired; fatigued; exhausted. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Quite beat, and very much vexed and disappointed. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One that beats, or surpasses, another or others; as, the beat of him. [ Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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; -- also called a scoop or exclusive. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

It's a beat on the whole country. Scribner's Mag. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them. Encyc. of Sport. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(c) (Fencing) A smart tap on the adversary's blade. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adj. capable of being defeated.
Syn. -- vanquishable, vincible. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Made smooth by beating or treading; worn by use. “A broad and beaten way.” Milton. “Beaten gold.” Shak. “off the beaten track.” [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Vanquished; defeated; conquered; baffled. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Exhausted; tired out. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Become common or trite; as, a beaten phrase. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Tried; practiced. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. worn by use into a deplorable condition. the beaten-up old Ford
Syn. -- battered, beat-up, bedraggled, broken-down, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumble-down, unsound. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, beats. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person who beats up game for the hunters. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. beðian to foment. ] To bathe; also, to dry or heat, as unseasoned wood. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Cf. F. béatifique, L. beatificus. See Beatify. ] Having the power to impart or complete blissful enjoyment; blissful. “The beatific vision.” South. -- Be`a*tif"ic*al*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

v. t. To beatify. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. béatification. ] The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of “the blessed, ” or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization. “The beatification of his spirit.” Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. (Roman Catholic Church) proclaimed one of the blessed and thus worthy of veneration.
Syn. -- blessed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Beatified p. pr. & vb. n. Beatifying. ] [ L. beatificare; beatus happy (fr. beare to bless, akin to bonus good) + facere to make: cf. F. béatifier. See Bounty. ] 1. To pronounce or regard as happy, or supremely blessed, or as conferring happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The common conceits and phrases that beatify wealth. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make happy; to bless with the completion of celestial enjoyment. “Beatified spirits.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (R. C. Ch.) To ascertain and declare, by a public process and decree, that a deceased person is one of “the blessed, ” and is to be reverenced as such, though not canonized. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of striking or giving blows; punishment or chastisement by blows. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pulsation; throbbing; as, the beating of the heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Acoustics & Mus.) Pulsative sounds. See Beat, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) The process of sailing against the wind by tacks in zigzag direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. beatitudo: cf. F. béatitude. See Beatify. ] 1. Felicity of the highest kind; consummate bliss. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any one of the nine declarations (called the Beatitudes), made in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 3-12), with regard to the blessedness of those who are distinguished by certain specified virtues. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (R. C. Ch.) Beatification. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Blessedness; felicity; happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a member of the Beat Generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. same as beaten-up.
Syn. -- battered, beaten-up, bedraggled, broken-down, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumble-down, unsound. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. Browbeat; p. p. Browbeaten p. pr. & vb. n. Browbeating. ] To depress or bear down with haughty, stern looks, or with arrogant speech and dogmatic assertions; to abash or disconcert by impudent or abusive words or looks; to bully; as, to browbeat witnesses. [ 1913 Webster ]

My grandfather was not a man to be browbeaten. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of bearing down, abashing, or disconcerting, with stern looks, supercilious manners, or confident assertions. [ 1913 Webster ]

The imperious browbeatings and scorn of great men. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ NL. chalybeatus, fr. chalubeïus. See Chalubean. ] Impregnated with salts of iron; having a taste like iron; as, chalybeate springs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Any water, liquid, or medicine, into which iron enters as an ingredient. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The cobia. (b) An etheostomoid fish of the southern United States (Hadropterus nigrofasciatus). (c) A small European heron (Ardea minuta, and other allied species). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Physics) Making a beat without recoil; giving indications by a single beat or excursion; -- said of galvanometers and other instruments in which the needle or index moves to the extent of its deflection and stops with little or no further oscillation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Deadbeat escapement. See under Escapement. [ 1913 Webster ]

a loafer, sponger, or swindler; especially, one who does not pay his debts. Same as Beat, n., 7. [ Low, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Valve. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Music) the first beat of a musical measure (as the conductor's arm moves downward). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The sound of a beaten drum; drum music. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England. D. Webster. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To beat severely. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a small device having one or usually two blades, each having several stiff oval wires at the tip. The blades are swirled or rotated for beating eggs or whipping cream. The electrical variety typically have two such blades, which are arranged so that the tips of the blades interlace while rotating.
Syn. -- eggwhisk. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

a. Gilded. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An artisan who beats gold into goldleaf. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The art or process of reducing gold to extremely thin leaves, by beating with a hammer. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the audible and palpable rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart; as, he listened to her heartbeat with a stethoscope.
Syn. -- pulse, pulsation, beat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

in a heartbeat immediately. [ PJC ]

a. Beaten, injured, or impaired by storms. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. Same as Surbate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. to- + beat. ] To beat thoroughly or severely. [ Obs. ] Layamon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Arch.) Furnished with an entablature. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. trabs, trabis, a beam, a timber. ] (Arch.) Same as Entablature. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Warworn. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Beaten or harassed by the weather; worn by exposure to the weather, especially to severe weather. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Beaten or harassed by the severe weather of winter. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]