Part 981

<blockquote>A frozen continent . . . <b>beat</b> with perpetual storms. <i>Milton.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>To tread, as a path.</def>

<blockquote>Pass awful gulfs, and <b>beat</b> my painful way. <i>Blackmore.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>To overcome in a battle, contest, strife, race, game, etc.; to vanquish or conquer; to surpass.</def>

<blockquote>He <b>beat</b> them in a bloody battle. <i> Prescott.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>For loveliness, it would be hard to <b>beat</b> that. <i>M. Arnold.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>7.</b> <def>To cheat; to chouse; to swindle; to defraud; -- often with <i>out</i>.</def> <mark>[Colloq.]</mark>

<p><b>8.</b> <def>To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.</def>

<blockquote>Why should any one . . . <b>beat</b> his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic? <i>Locke.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>9.</b> <fld>(Mil.)</fld> <def>To give the signal for, by beat of drum; to sound by beat of drum; <as>as, to <ex>beat</ex> an alarm, a charge, a parley, a retreat; to <ex>beat</ex> the general, the reveille, the tattoo.</as> See <er>Alarm</er>, <er>Charge</er>, <er>Parley</er>, etc.</def>

<cs><col>To beat down</col>, <cd>to haggle with (any one) to secure a lower price; to force down.</cd> <mark>[Colloq.]</mark> -- <col>To beat into</col>, <cd>to teach or instill, by repetition.</cd> -- <col>To beat off</col>, <cd>to repel or drive back.</cd> -- <col>To beat out</col>, <cd>to extend by hammering.</cd> -- <col>To beat out of</col> a thing, <cd>to cause to relinquish it, or give it up.</cd> "Nor can anything <i>beat<i> their posterity <i>out of it<i> to this day." <i>South</i>. -- <col>To beat the dust</col>. <fld>(Man.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <cd>To take in too little ground with the fore legs, as a horse.</cd> <sd>(b)</sd> <cd>To perform curvets too precipitately or too low.</cd> -- <col>To beat the hoof</col>, <cd>to walk; to go on foot.</cd> -- <col>To beat the wing</col>, <cd>to flutter; to move with fluttering agitation.</cd> -- <col>To beat time</col>, <cd>to measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.</cd> -- <col>To beat up</col>, <cd>to attack suddenly; to alarm or disturb; as, to <i>beat up<i> an enemy's quarters.</cd></cs>

<syn>Syn. -- To strike; pound; bang; buffet; maul; drub; thump; baste; thwack; thrash; pommel; cudgel; belabor; conquer; defeat; vanquish; overcome.</syn>

<h1>Beat</h1> <Xpage=129>

<hw>Beat</hw>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blaows; to knock vigorously or loudly.</def>

<blockquote>The men of the city . . . <b>beat</b> at the door. <i> Judges. xix. 22.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To move with pulsation or throbbing.</def>

<blockquote>A thousand hearts <b>beat</b> happily. <i>Byron.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To come or act with violence; to dash or fall with force; to strike anything, <as>as, rain, wind, and waves do</as>.</def>

<blockquote>Sees rolling tempests vainly <b>beat</b> below. <i>Dryden.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>They [winds] <b>beat</b> at the crazy casement. <i>Longfellow.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The sun <b>beat</b> upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wisbed in himself to die. <i> Jonah iv. 8.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Public envy seemeth to <b>beat</b> chiefly upon ministers. <i> Bacon.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>To be in agitation or doubt.</def> <mark>[Poetic]</mark>

<blockquote>To still my <b>beating</b> mind. <i>Shak</i></blockquote>.

<p><b>5.</b> <fld>(Naut.)</fld> <def>To make progress against the wind, by sailing in a zigzag line or traverse.</def>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>To make a sound when struck; <as>as, the drums beat</as>.</def>

<p><b>7.</b> <fld>(Mil.)</fld> <def>To make a succession of strokes on a drum; <as>as, the drummers <ex>beat</ex> to call soldiers to their quarters</as>.</def>

<p><b>8.</b> <fld>(Acoustics & Mus.)</fld> <def>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.</def>