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 ]

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. ]

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

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

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 ]

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 ]